


What's Your Number

by allysonwonderland



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Humor, M/M, Romance, somewhat of an au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-27
Updated: 2013-09-01
Packaged: 2017-12-21 12:04:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 38,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/900088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allysonwonderland/pseuds/allysonwonderland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU Based on the movie What's Your Number - Spencer joins the team and explains his social experiment to Derek. What happens when feelings arise, and Derek is bordering on his number 20. SLASH eventual Morgan/Reid. Rated for language and<br/>content.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Derek Morgan didn't even flinch as he slammed the door to the apartment building complex behind him. To say he was pissed off would be an understatement. Sighing slightly, he stood against the wall and slowly pulled his hand over his face.

"You're suspended." His unit chief's monotone echoed in his ears: the conversation had been on constant replay his entire drive home.

" _Hotch…"_

" _Morgan, this is out of my hands. Word got back to Strauss and she gave me no other option."_

" _I had to stop the unsub, that girl was going to die."_

" _Derek, this is out of my jurisdiction. I'm sorry."_

" _How long?"_

" _A month."_

" _A month? But I was—"_

He was quickly pulled from the conversation as he heard his phone ringing. Pulling it out of his pocket, he gave a small smile when he saw the ID.

"Hey baby girl," he said, as he began to walk up the steps. The building had an elevator but it had been broken since the time he moved in. The superintendent, Jason Gideon, spent more time at his cabin than he did in the building, and therefore was never really around to help if something broke. Luckily, Derek had experience flipping houses and was able to fix most things on his own.

Derek wouldn't have minded as much if he didn't live on the sixth floor.

"Oh my chocolate thunder, you left before I got to see you. I heard you got called into Hotch's office, how bad?" Penelope Garcia's voice never failed to calm him down.

He sighed as he made his way past the third floor landing. "A month."

"A month? That's ridiculous! Who does Strauss think she is? She can hardly stand up straight in the field," he could hear typing in the background and figured she was trying to find the file about the suspension.

"I know mama, but as Hotch said, there's nothing he could do. I just gotta deal." He had finally made it to his floor and began to dig around his pockets to find his keys. Being on the top floor, he had one of the two lofts.

He didn't really know his neighbor across the hall that much. They've exchanged pleasantries whenever they saw each other, but never really had any real conversations. Derek knew the kid: he had no idea how old he was but he looked like a kid. He was tall, had stringy brown hair that used to be long, but last time Derek had seen him he had cut it. He didn't know what he did for a living and always seemed to have his nose buried in a book. He thinks his name was Springer or something close to that.

"It's going to be weird to not see my chocolate thunder around the office," he smiled as he opened the door to his apartment. Dropping his briefcase and keys on the table near the door, he closed the door behind him and plopped himself on the couch.

"Don't worry, little miss thing, you know I'm only a phone call away, and you're welcome over anytime," he sighed slightly before asking the question that he'd been dreading. "Are they bringing someone in while I'm out?"

He heard more typing before Garcia responded. "There's an agent being brought in from Cooper's team. No name listed, sorry, angel fish, wish I knew more."

"Don't worry hot stuff, I'll be fine."

After a few more flirtatious exchanges, Derek hung up the phone and dropped it on the coffee table. He plopped down onto the couch and fell asleep a while later.

Derek was woken up the next morning by the pounding knock on his door. He sat up and wiped a hand over his face, frowning at himself for falling asleep in his clothes from the day before.

The knocking continued and Derek got up, making his way to the door.

Opening the door, he expected it to be Garcia but he was surprised to find his neighbor from across the hall.

"Hi," the man squeaked out. Derek was slightly amused at the way he looked right now. His, he was right, short hair looked like he had just woken up himself. He was wearing a purple button up shirt with a black sweater vest and black tie. He was even more amused with the black and white converse on his feet. 'Man, he seriously is a kid.'

"Springer, right?"

"Uh, it's Spencer."

"Can I help you?" Derek asked as he leaned against the doorway and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Uh, yeah, " he cleared his throat, looked down and fidgeted with hands before looking back up at Derek. "I accidentally left my bag in my friend's car last night after he dropped me off from work. It, uh, has my keys and phone in it. You see, I locked myself out of my apartment and I was wondering—"

Derek quickly cut him off and stepped aside, gesturing to let the other man into the apartment. "If you could use my phone, yeah, kid, go ahead. It's there on the coffee table."

"Thanks," Spencer murmured as he stepped into the apartment.

Derek watched him walk to the middle of the room and then when he turned to close the door, he saw the superintendent coming up the stairs.

Derek went to look at Spencer again and he raised an eyebrow when he saw the kid hiding behind the support beam in the middle of the room.

Gideon was knocking on the kid's door when Derek turned back. After a few knocks, he had given up and turned towards Derek.

"Have you seen him?"

Derek didn't know what to say, so he shook his head in response.

"Great. I don't have time for this," Gideon began to make his way down the stairs before turning back to Derek one more time. "If you see him, tell him to call my cabin or something."

Derek watched him disappear down the flight of stairs before finally closing his door. Spencer had stepped out from behind the support beam and was obviously trying to ignore making eye contact with Derek.

"And you're hiding from the superintendent in my apartment why?"

Spencer looked up at him then back down at the ground. "I don't have the full amount for rent this month and was hoping to avoid him until two weeks from now when I actually get paid." He started pulling on the end of his sweater vest.

Derek was a little confused by that. "Why couldn't you just tell him that?"

"This isn't the first time. I, my mother is—"he was cut off by a loud *beep beep* that came from his back pocket. His face flushed slightly as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone.

Derek gave him an incredulous look, completely shocked that he couldn't tell if this kid was basically lying to him. He's a profiler, he should be better at this.

"I, uh, I gotta go. I'm really sorry about this, I am. I promise to talk about this when I get home," Spencer said, slipping the phone back into his pocket and walked past Derek to the door. Derek slowly followed after him.

"I'll hold you to that, kid," Derek said. He watched Spencer open the door to his apartment slightly, reaching in and pulling out a messenger bag that was quickly slipped on over his chest.

"Thank you. Agent Morgan," Spencer whispered as he quickly made his way down the stairs.

Derek nodded after his retreating form, and walked back into his apartment. "Wait, how the hell did he know I'm agent?" he asked the empty room. He shook his head slightly before making his way back over to the couch. He threw on a hockey game he had recorded on the DVR before settling in on his couch. "Looks like Spencer and I have some things to talk about."

* * *

Normally Derek would be happy to have a break from work: in his field one always had to take advantage of that. Now that he had been forced, he was growing restless. There are a lot of things that, after a while, don't distract you from the fact that you don't have anything to do. Derek had rearranged the couches and the bed in his loft, and was beginning to starting to feel the restlessness.

It had been two days since his suspension when Derek decided that he was bored enough that he was actually going to see if Spencer wanted to have that conversation he promised after he ran out of his apartment like his ass caught on fire for lying.

The only problem was that the kid wasn't actually ever home. Derek figured he'd been going over when Spencer was most likely at work. He didn't know what Spencer did, but it seemed like he worked a lot.

On the third day, Derek was on the couch, Clooney on the cushion next to him, not really paying attention to anything was that was on the TV. He sighed as he reached forward to the coffee table and picked up his phone. Unlocking it, he quickly pulled up Garcia's number.

"Fountain of knowledge, check my flow," she picked up after one ring, and with the amount of typing in that he could hear in the background, he figured the team must be out on a case.

He smiled slightly before talking. "Hey, gorgeous, it's me."

"Ah, my vision, how I've missed your sweet voice."

"Baby girl, it's only been a few days."

"A few days too many, sugar shack," he heard the typing stop. "How are you?"

Derek wiped a hand over his face slowly and sighed. "Bored, so incredibly bored. I bet that's expected, though. What about you, mama? Team out on a case?"

"Mhm, on their way back actually."

"Really? That quick?"

"They followed the yellow brick road to Shawnee, Kansas. Reports of a homicidal car thief."

Derek blinked at that, his brain quickly sorting through similar cases and the time spent trying to find the unsub. "You're serious?"

"Incredibly."

"How?"

"Gavin Jones was sloppy. His partner, Michael Ramsey, was killed by a drunk driver driving a Ford Focus at 90mph through a neighborhood when they were walking home from a date. Jones wanted revenge: began stalking and murdering those who drove the same vehicle."

"They solved that in two days. How?"

Derek knew the answer with the silence filled moments. He could hear the hesitation in the voice as she answered. "The agent they brought in from Cooper's team."

Derek sighed: he was right. "Penelope, it's okay."

"I know, but it's weird without you being there and I don't want to make you upset or angry or—"

Derek cut her off. "Breathe, I said it was okay. Tell me about them."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"I really don't know where the FBI found him but he's interesting, and that's coming from me. He's a genius, literally a genius. His IQ is apparently 187 and he has three PhD's. Three. Then two bachelors along with that."

Derek raised an eyebrow. "They brought a middle aged man in as a field agent?"

The snort from Penelope that followed made him frown slightly. "This kid is so far from middle aged honey."

"How old is he?"

"I stress the word kid. I think Hotch said he was 26."

"Who the hell is this guy?"

"His name is Doctor, emphasis on that, Spencer Reid. And you should see him, Derek. He's got that whole geek chic thing going on, you know, sweater vests, slacks, tie. Hell, he wears these pair of converse that look to be at least six years old. He's a beanpole, has a nice ass, but still super skinny and tall. Damn is he tall."

The description she gave sounded like someone he knows.

"You said his name was Spencer?"

"Yeah, why?"

'Is the skinny kid across the hall really my replacement?' Derek thought to himself. 'That would explain how he knew I was an agent.'

He was quickly pulled from the thought when he could hear Penelope calling his name. "Derek, Derek? Are you still there?"

"Yeah, sorry, got distracted."

"Well, how about I bring Chinese over when I get out? I miss your face."

Derek laughed. "Sounds good, mama. You know what I like, besides you of course."

Garcia gave him a small giggle before responding. "Damn right tiger. See you later," and the call was ended.

Derek smiled as he lowered his phone and placed it back on the coffee table. "You got a lot of explaining to do, kid." He whispered to the empty room, before getting off the couch and getting things ready for dinner with Garcia.


	2. Chapter 2

A few hours later, Derek was surprised by the knock on his door. It had to be the super: he hadn’t given Penelope a key which meant he had to buzz her in from the outside.

He opened the door and was shocked to see that it was, in fact, Penelope. Over her head, he could see the kid across the hall’s door closing and figured he must’ve let her in.

“Hey baby girl,” Derek murmured, hugging Garcia before letting her into the apartment. Eyeing the door across the hall one more time, he closed the door behind him and followed Garcia into his kitchen. After she had placed the bags of take out on the island, he immediately found Garcia’s arms wrapped around him.

He chuckled as he returned the hug, holding her close.

“I have missed you, my statuesque god of chocolate thunder,” she smiled at him as she pulled away and helped Derek unpack the food. “You have some explaining to do.”

Derek raised an eyebrow as he opened a container of rice. “What are you talking about?”

“You didn’t tell me you lived across from the super brain! I was shocked to see him walking to the door after I parked Esther.”

Derek sighed and rubbed the back of his head. “I honestly didn’t know,” he shrugged slightly before looking at her. “When you called and described him earlier, that’s when I made the connection.  He was in here a few days ago hiding from the super.”

“What? Why?”

Derek smiled slightly. “He never explained. He mentioned something about his mother I think, but then he ran out of here promising to talk to me.  Now I at least know why he hasn’t been around.”

They drifted off that subject as Derek asked Garcia how Kevin’s been and work in general, until Garcia brought it back up.

“Hotch gave everyone the next two days off,” she said as she dropped the empty containers into the garbage can.

“Why does that matter to me?”

“Honey, I may not be a profiler, but I can tell you want to know more about the Doctor.”

Derek let out a defeated sigh. “You definitely always know how to read me right, mama.”

Garcia chuckled slightly before taking a spot on Derek’s couch. “Come,” she said as she patted the cushion next to her. “They don’t call me the Oracle of Quantico for nothing.”

Derek smiled and made his way to the couch, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. He looked to Garcia who gave an eyebrow raise in return, and went to answer. He quickly stepped aside when Spencer almost tackled him running into the apartment.

He could hear footsteps coming from a floor below and quickly deduced the situation. He remained silent as he closed the door and turned around before leaning against it. Spencer was hiding behind the same the support beam from a few days before and he smiled slightly at Penelope’s shocked face.

The room remained quiet to make sure Gideon had left the floor and was a good distance away. Derek glanced through the peephole to double check before turning back to Spencer.

“You really have some explaining to do, kid,” Derek said as he made his way towards his skinny neighbor.

Spencer didn’t say anything as he stepped out from behind the beam, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking to the floor, avoiding the looks he was getting from Penelope and Derek.

Penelope eyes darted back and forth between the two men in the room. “Oh, you can almost feel the awkward,” she mumbled, earning a small smile from Derek. “I’ll just let myself out,” she said as she stood up from the couch.

Spencer’s head quickly popped up. “Ms. Garcia, you don’t need to leave on my accord. I actually should be the one leaving,” he began to make his way towards the door. “It was rude of me to run in here, especially now that I’ve done it twice. I also apologize for interrupting your night.” 

Spencer tried to walk past both of them, but was stopped by Garcia, who put her hand on his chest to still him.

“First of all, drop the ‘Ms’. I may be older than you but I want none of that. It’s either Penelope or Garcia, got it?”

Spencer nodded.

“Second of all, you didn’t ruin anything. I’m sure my chocolate thunder and you have a few things to talk about,” she said as she turned towards Derek, who gave a small nod an as answer.

“Then I shall be on my way,” she reached up and kissed Derek on the cheek. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Tiger.” She pulled the door open and turned to Spencer. “And you, Doctor Reid, I shall see you in couple days, pending any crazies trying to steal our time off?” Again, Spencer nodded.

“Night!”

Derek gave her a small smile and watched her walk down the stairs until she reached the fifth floor landing. Closing the door, he turned towards Spencer and gestured towards the couch. Spencer didn’t say anything as he took a seat on the far side of the couch and waited for Derek to say something.

“You owe me an explanation, and I think there’s a few more I’m obligated to asking about.”

Another nod.

“Then, where shall we start?”

Spencer sighed and relaxed slightly against the armrest on the couch. “What do you want to know first?”

Derek thought for a moment and he took a seat that was adjacent to the couch. “How about why you’re hiding from Gideon?”

“Like I said the other day, he’s looking for the rent. I’m behind a little. This isn’t the first time,” Spencer explained, his eyes staring at his lap, fidgeting with the sleeves of his blue cardigan.

“I know all that but why are you short? I’m pretty sure I remember you mentioning something about your mother?”

Spencer didn’t look up, still fidgeting with the end of his sleeves. He licked his lips before replying. “Uh, she’s, she’s sick. Has been since I was a little kid,” he said, stopping for a moment to swallow. “I pay for her hospital stay. The recent payment just came a little too close to the first of the month.” He gave a slight shrug with his left shoulder and finally looked up at Derek.

“That still doesn’t explain why you keep hiding from him in my apartment.”

“I figure the more I hide from him, the longer I can put it off until I have the money. I used to have it timed out to the time he spends at his cabin. He’s there on average from the 21st of the previous month until the 10th of the current,” he ignored the look Derek was giving at the information and continued. “Unfortunately, this was one of the few times I was actually here when he was.”

Derek didn’t say anything as he tried to quickly digest the information, and quickly tried to word his next question. “I was wondering why you called me Agent Morgan when you left that day, but Garcia answered that for me earlier,” he looked over to Reid, whose eyes were looking at his lap.

“Did you know you were going to be my replacement?”

Spencer’s head shot up and he quickly shook it. “No, I honestly had no idea. I knew of you, I mean, I worked with Agent Cooper’s team and I didn’t know I was being brought onto Agent Hotchner’s until I arrived at the BAU that day.”

Derek looked at the skinny man in front of him. ‘There is no possible way this kid was just switched between teams,’ Derek thought to himself.

“There’s got to be a reason,” he said, staring at Spencer.

In return, Spencer furrowed his brow and looked at Derek with confusion written all over his face. “Excuse me?”

Derek rolled his eyes and fell back into the chair. He was starting to get a little annoyed. “Come on. You’re a kid, how did you even graduate from the Academy?”

Spencer’s gaze quickly turned into a glare and he quickly stood up from the couch and made his way towards the door. “That really is none of your business, Agent Morgan,” he said as he opened the door. He was about to walk out until Derek’s voice stopped him.

“I think it is, considering you took my job at all,” he said as he stood up and faced Reid.

Spencer clenched his jaw and took a deep breath before replying. “Again, Agent Morgan, some things are none of your business and I definitely didn’t take your job. You’re on suspension and I was requested to come in and fill in until your suspension was over. I’m sorry for interrupting your evening and hope you have a pleasant night.”

And with that Spencer walked out and slammed the door behind him, leaving a fuming Derek Morgan in the middle of his apartment. 

\---

Derek was awoken a few mornings later by the constant vibration of his phone on his nightstand. He rubbed his eyes and stretched a little before reaching over and unlocking his phone.

“Hello?” He hadn’t bothered looking to see who it was.

“Spill,” Penelope Garcia’s voice filled his ears. He groaned slightly and sat up.

“Spill what exactly?”

He heard a huff from the other line and frowned slightly. “Baby girl, I literally just woke up. You’re gonna have to help me a little if you want something from me,” Derek said as he stood up from his bed and made his way to the kitchen.

“Conversation with the genius?”

The memory of the night a few days before quickly came back to him and Derek could feel the same amount of anger returning. “Did he say something?”

“He…he didn’t say anything,” he could hear the confusion in Penelope’s voice. “Actually he’s been quiet the past few days, only talking when spoken to.” Derek calmed down slightly and took a deep breath, forcing himself to push the anger away.

‘At least the kid knows to keep his mouth shut,’ he thought to himself.

“Why would you think he’d say anything?”

Derek sighed and shrugged slightly, even though he knew the tech analysis couldn’t see it. “He just rubs me the wrong way, I swear there’s something that he’s not telling us,” he explained. An awkward silence fell between the two before Derek spoke up. “Penelope, do you think—“ Garcia was quick to cut him.

“Derek Morgan do not even finish that sentence!”

Derek frowned. “You don’t even know what I was going to ask!”

Garcia snorted. “You were going to ask me to look into junior g-man’s background, weren’t you?”

“Junior g-man?”

“Don’t question my nicknames,” she lightly scolded. “Now, am I right?”

Derek sighed. “When are you not?” He joked.

“Then you should know my sweet that I’m not going to dig into the life of a team member.”

“I still think he’s hiding something,” Derek said as he grabbed a bottle of water from his refrigerator and took a seat on the couch.

“We’re all hiding something, Derek, we don’t need work and our personal lives to mix,” Garcia pointed out.

“That’s not what I’m talking about, baby girl. I want to know why he was transferred as a replacement when he was working Sam Cooper’s team. You worked with them. Do you know anything?” he pleaded slightly.

“Nope, Derek. End this now. I can say as much as lay off the kid, okay? As far as I know and can tell, he hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“But--,” he began but Garcia cut him off again.

“Derek, I’ve got to go. We’ve got a case in Ohio. I’ll call you when I can,” and with that, she hung up the phone. Derek pulled the phone away from his ear, made sure it was locked and set it down on the coffee table.

“Suspension sucks,” he mumbled as he reached for the remote and turned on ESPN. “Only a week and a half and I can finally get back to work.”

Derek hadn’t heard from anyone on the team since the last time he talked to Garcia on the phone before their current case. It had been three or four days and he was once again bored.  He jumped when there was a sudden knock on his door.

“Just a minute!” He called as he stood up from the couch and straightened his shirt, making sure no one could tell that he had been wearing it for the past three days.

Opening the door, he was surprised to see Penelope standing there, unable to read whatever emotion that she was displaying.

“How did you—“

“Dr. Reid let me up. I offered to give him a ride home after we got home from the case. Poor kid, he’s completely wiped out,” she explained as she walked past Derek and took a spot on the couch.

Derek closed the door behind her and took the seat the next to her. “Not that I’m not happy to see you, baby girl, but what are you doing here?”

Garcia sighed slightly as she repositioned herself on the couch so she was facing Derek. “I hate to be the bearer of news, but what I have is both good and bad, which do you want first?” She asked.

“Bad news.”

Garcia fidgeted a little before responding. “Elle’s gone, Derek.”

Derek’s eyebrows shot up, different scenarios and reasons running through his head. “What do you mean she’s gone? Is she hurt, is she--” he quickly cut himself off, unable to say what he was thinking out loud.

“No! She’s not dead, she, well, she basically quit.”

Derek let out a relieved sigh before asking another question. “Was there a reason why?”

Garcia shook her head and quickly rubbed her eyes as she wiped away the tears that had escaped. “Well, there are theories, I guess,” she began. “You know how’s she been having trouble with everything since she was shot?”

Derek nodded.

“We’re guessing that this case was the one that pushed her right over the edge of whatever line she was on.”

“Was it something with the case?” Derek asked. He received a nod. “What happened?”

“There was this rapist in Dayton. He started with women from religious-type schools and stopped for awhile. We were called in after he began going after different demographics instead,” Garcia explained.

“Reid had figured out how the unsub was collecting the information on women, something about a survey at a clinic, I think,” she paused to swallow and took a deep breath before continuing. “There was a plan to set up a ‘victim-to-be’ scenario. Rossi had asked Emily at first but…”

“Elle offered since sexual offense crimes are her forte,” Derek finished for her. Garcia nodded. “Was it something that happened with the setup that you think pushed her?”

“There was this guy who was sitting outside the house they were using and she ignored everyone, like, wouldn’t even acknowledge the orders she was getting from Hotch and Rossi. She walked out to his truck, started yelling things at him, made him get out of the car and they brought him in. What really set her off though is they didn’t have anything on him to contain him, so they let him walk.”

Derek could easily picture everything in his head: the different moments that could affect Elle and her work, especially if she had managed to make some kind of emotional attachment to the case.

“I really don’t know the whole story but the next day, JJ said something about Elle shooting the guy in an act of self defense? I don’t know,” she sighed. “Hotch came into work this morning to find her gun and credentials on his desk.”

“No note or letter of resignation?” Derek asked.

Garcia shook her head. “Zilch. She also must’ve cancelled her cards and threw out her cell because I couldn’t even track her. I tried, I swear.”

Derek moved closer to Penelope, reaching out and pulling her against his chest, holding her tightly. The two sat in silence for a few moments as Penelope calmed herself down and Derek took his time to go over what he had just been told.

“You said you had good news?” Derek asked as Penelope pulled herself away. She grinned at Derek and nodded.

“So?”

“You’re off suspension!”

Derek’s eyes widened. “Really? You’re serious?”

Penelope nodded. “Well, with Elle gone, we need someone to fill her spot. Hotch talked to Strauss and she agreed that it would be okay to pull your suspension early. You’re allowed to return to work tomorrow!

Derek grinned. “Thank god, I've been so bored.”

Penelope smiled and leaned over, kissing him on the cheek. “It’s going to be wonderful to see you back in the BAU, sugar.”

“So, does that mean genius boy returns to Cooper’s team?” he asked, sounding hopeful.

Penelope made a slight face at that, before frowning and shaking her head.

“Then what is he going to do? I thought he was my replacement?”

“Congratulations, we have a new team member!”

\----

Derek smiled to himself after the elevators had opened and he walked out onto the sixth floor. No matter how many times he may say he needs a vacation, the BAU had quickly become a second home.

As he walked through the glass doors, he let his eyes wander over the bullpen. It was still slightly early, so there weren’t as many people in as there usually was, making the floor somewhat chaotic on days where there wasn’t a case.

His smile fell as he made his way to his desk and saw Spencer sitting only a few away. The kid had the lamp on and was flipping through the files on his desk, not even bothering to actually stop and read what they said.

‘Probably thinks he knows everything and doesn’t need to read the facts to write the report,’ Derek thought to himself as he dropped his briefcase and coat on his chair, then quickly made his way to the break room.

Grabbing a cup of coffee, he turned, leaning his back against the counters and silently drinking from his mug. He smiled when he saw Emily Prentiss walk in, a smile on her face when she saw that Derek had returned.

“Hey! Glad that you're back,” she said as she walked over to Derek, giving him a hug. Derek smiled and wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her slightly.

“Good to see you too, Princess,” he smiled and sat down at the table as Emily made her way over to her desk.

He was almost finished with his coffee when he saw Hotch’s door open and the unit chief walked out. “Morgan, may I see you in my office?”

Derek nodded and put his mug in the sink before making his way to Hotch’s office. As he stepped inside, he shut the door behind him and sat down in the chair in front of his desk.

“First, I’d like to say I’m glad to see you back,” Hotch said as he gave Derek a rare smile. 

Derek grinned in return and nodded. “Good to be back, and earlier than planned.”

“I’m guessing Garcia already explained to you what happened with Elle?” Aaron asked, raising an eyebrow.

“She did."

“Good, makes this shorter. As stated by the handbook, you will be watched closely over the next few weeks, especially when you’re in the field. If anything goes wrong or awry, there’s a higher chance you’ll be put back on suspension, risking expulsion,” Hotch explained.

Derek swallowed slightly and nodded. “Understood.”

“Then we’re done. I am sure you’re behind on some reports?” Aaron smirked as he stood up and led Derek out the door, both of them pausing as they reached the railing of the catwalk.

“Yeah, “ Derek began, chuckling slightly. “That was one thing I wasn’t looking forward to.”

Hotch nodded. “Doctor Reid?”

Derek looked over at the young doctor who was still going through the files on his desk as fast as he was when Derek had first walked in. Derek resisted rolling his eyes as the kid looked up, a pair of glasses on his face, making the kid look even younger.

“Derek, this is our new agent from Sam Cooper’s team. He was helping out while you were away. Due to some conflicts and other instances with Cooper’s team, Dr. Reid here has been transferred to our team.”

Spencer held a hand up as a form of wave at Derek before he quickly turned to his attention back to his case files.

“He’s a little shy at first,” Hotch explained, turning to look at Derek.

“We’re, ah, we’re actually neighbors. I just don’t know him that well beyond that.”

Hotch blinked in surprise, but quickly returned to his usual stoic expression. “Then I’ll leave you two get better acquainted.” He patted Derek on the shoulder before returning to his office.

Derek’s eyes followed him and he sighed, making his way to his desk. “This is going to be an experience.”

A few hours had passed since the beginning of Derek’s first day back to work. He caught up a little with David Rossi when he finally graced the BAU with his presence. Garcia had come from her lair a little laer to see him and he bantered back and forth with Emily. He had also seen JJ running around from her office to Hotch’s.

What was strange to him though was when she had stopped at Reid’s desk and he watched them talk like they had known each other their entire lives. Derek had only been gone for three weeks; there was no way they could’ve gotten close in that time.

Now the bullpen was the hustle and noise that he was used to but there was something that was still bothering. He had watched the kid go through almost a day and a half’s worth of case files, but still flipping through each page barely taking any time to read what was actually there.

Finally getting fed up, he turned his chair towards Reid. “You know, you actually have to read the file to give an accurate report,” he basically spat. Derek had to bite his tongue to keep himself from laughing when Spencer nearly dropped his file and jumped.

“Excuse me?” he asked, his voice squeaking slightly at the end.

“The files, I’ve been watching you do this since I walked in this morning. You flip through the pages like it’s a flip book. You actually have to read them you know,” Derek responded, trying to keep his anger to a minimum.

Spencer furrowed his brow and looked at Derek with confusion. Derek was about to say something but Emily quickly cut him off.

“He doesn’t know,” she said to Spencer, who raised an eyebrow at her.

Derek turned to her. “Know what?”

Spencer sighed before turning to Derek. “I am actually reading the pages, I—“

Derek cut him. “Bull, there is no way you can read that fast.”

“How about you actually let him finish the sentence, Morgan,” Emily said, glaring at Derek, threatening him to keep quiet so that Spencer could talk.

“Our conscious minds can process sixteen bits of information per second. Our unconscious however, can process eleven million,” he was greeted with silence from Derek and could see Emily fighting a grin in his peripheral. “Yes, I actually can read that fast.”

“20,000 per minute, right?” Emily said, her gaze still on Derek.

Spencer nodded. “Eidetic memory too, so I do actually retain the information.”

“You have a photographic memory?”

“Eidetic memory, I can remember everything I read and recall it with perfect detail,” Spencer explained as he turned away from Derek and continued his case files.

Emily smirked before returning to her own set.

Derek looked between the two, letting out a small sigh and following their lead. 


	3. Chapter 3

Spencer smiled to himself as he went through the first files of the stack in his inbox for the day. SSA Hotchner had just confirmed his permanent transfer to this BAU team. There were a few people that he was going to miss on SSA Cooper's, but this was definitely a better place and team for him. No one here made him feel like he didn't belong, it was the complete opposite to what he was use to being on Cooper's team. Sure, LaSalle and Griffith didn't mind him too much, but there was only so much taunting and crap he could put up with from Rawson and Simms. Even being away from Cooper made everything in Spencer's future a little brighter.

SSA Hotchner's team wasn't completely used to his quirks, and sometimes even his intelligence, but they didn't degrade him for it, didn't make him feel like a talking computer.

This team made him feel human.

When he had first been told he would be transferring to Hotchner's team as a temporary agent while a member was on suspension, he was relieved to know he would at least know somebody.

That person happened to be his best friend, Jennifer Jareau, who everyone else called JJ.

Before even applying for the Academy, Spencer knew JJ from the few random classes he had taken at Georgetown. They had met in a Criminalistics class, and despite Spencer being obviously younger than JJ, they clicked. It was one of those friendships where you can't really explain how they happened.

This was after Spencer knew he wanted to do something with the FBI, but didn't know exactly what, and JJ didn't know what she wanted to do after she graduated.

Then one day they had gone to the campus bookstore and saw David Rossi, who was out on his book tour promoting his second or third book. JJ had asked Rossi what he was most proud of, and Rossi showed them a picture of Brent Roberts from Charleston. His neighbor had taken him and Rossi and the team had found him alive. That moment was when they both knew what they wanted to do, and applied to the Academy together.

That memory was why it was intimidating to meet David Rossi at first. The older profiler was a straight to the point, no business kind of guy and Spencer was always afraid he was going to say the wrong thing or end up rambling an entire chapter of one of his books. As their time together continued, including a side case to Philadelphia to look into some interesting contents found in an auctioned off storage unit, Spencer found himself relaxing when he was in the same room with him and smiled when Rossi made jokes to the LEOs about Spencer.

Emily Prentiss was also intimidating at first. The sarcasm, confidence, and pride that she had was hard to get around, but Spencer found himself comfortable around her easily. One day, JJ had mentioned his bottle rockets, which she labeled 'physics magic', Emily was instantly interested and from then on, she and Spencer really hit it off: even found a common interest in Russian cinema.

Before meeting the man, Spencer knew the reputation that SSA Aaron Hotchner held. He was stern, proud, and good at the job. He could be intimidating and nerve-wracking, especially if you're on the end one of his 'Hotch-Stares', as Garcia had called them. Spencer had luckily yet to find himself the recipient of one.

He smiled at the thought of Penelope Garcia. The woman was a burst of rainbows and everything good wrapped up into an incredibly kind and warm person who Spencer found himself forming a quick friendship with. They both had a love for Doctor Who and other things 'geeky'. Spencer was even finding himself adapting to the nicknames she came up for him.

Boy Wonder was his current favorite.

He found himself feeling indifferent about the departure of Elle Greenaway. Hotch had never really paired them up: he was usually at the precinct with JJ. He had been told the story of how she had been shot on a case a few months ago, they exchanged pleasantries or had a simple conversation while in each others company. Beyond that, he didn't get to know her that well.

Spencer had been surprised when he found out she had basically quit the FBI, but found himself feeling kind of happy that she did.

Spencer had come in the next day, and was called into Hotch's office right away. He was nervous, thinking that his stay with this team was done and it was his time to return to Cooper's.

He couldn't hide the grin when Hotch had explained everything to him. Hotch knew of his experiences and situations while he was on Cooper's team. Hotch knew everything: he had to. Hotch had explained how impressed he had been with Spencer's performance and was happy to offer him the vacant spot on their team. Spencer had accepted right away and Hotch put in the paperwork for the transfer.

Everything was going alright for Spencer right now. He was on a team where he was happy, around people that didn't shy away from him or make him feel worthless. He would be happy about coming to work.

Then Derek Morgan returned to work and the black cloud that Spencer had been trying to hide from quickly returned.

The absurd questions that Derek thought he was entitled to were easy for Spencer to recall from the conversation they had the week before. Where did he get off asking those questions or even assuming something like that when he didn't even know Spencer?

Spencer did his best to ignore him that first morning back, and it seemed like Derek was trying to do the same. Everything was fine. He had a few conversations with both Emily and JJ, and his morning was going fine.

Then: "You know, you actually need to read the file to give an accurate report." Spencer couldn't stop the blush from warming his cheeks as he jumped at the sound of Derek's voice. Reasonably it wasn't one he was use to and could quickly identify.

"Excuse me?" he said, turning to face his neighbor. Spencer was doing his best to keep his anger down. There logically was no reason for Spencer  _to_  be getting angry, but he was quickly reminded of Agent Rawson.

Then Morgan had continued on about how he'd been watching Spencer all morning flipping through the files, commenting more on how he actually needed to read them.

That's when Spencer remembered that Derek probably didn't know about how fast he could read. He was going to tell him until he had interrupted. Emily had cut in there as well, which Spencer was thankful for. With Emily there at the desk across from him, it would be easier for him not to completely blow up at Morgan.

After explaining what an eidetic memory was, Spencer turned away from Derek and got lost in his work, trying to ignore the other man for as long as he could.

* * *

Spencer had thrown himself into his work until the end of the day. It was easier for him. He could focus on one thing and everything around him would disappear. He hadn't even known what time it was until JJ had come around and sat on the edge of his desk.

"Hey Spence, need a ride home?" she asked as she touched his shoulder. He jumped slightly before turning to look at her.

"Sorry, what did you say?" he murmured as he closed the last case file and placed it on the stack with the others.

She giggled slightly before responding. "Just wanted to see if you needed a ride home?"

He smiled at her and shook his head. "I'm fine taking the Metro," he said as he began to put everything in his messenger bag and stand up from his desk.

"Spence, I can get you home faster than the Metro."

"Doesn't Will have tonight off?" he asked as he turned to face her and pulled on his jacket.

JJ nodded. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"You not driving me home means you get more time with your fiance," he explained, pushing her slightly away from his desk and towards the elevator. "Come on."

She smiled as she grabbed her stuff and let Spencer lead her to the elevator.

"You know I don't like you taking the metro alone," she said as she pushed the down button.

Spencer smiled at her and shoved his hands in the pockets of his coat. "Can't have big sister watching over me all the time," he joked, the two of them laughing as the elevator doors opened and the two of them got in.

When they reached the parking garage, Spencer walked with JJ, making sure she got to her car safely. "Thanks little brother," she said, winking and getting into the car. Spencer laughed and waved at her as she pulled out and left.

He began to make his way towards the subway station when a pair of high beams blinded him and a car he didn't recognize pulled up to him.

"Need a ride home?" came Derek Morgan's voice as the window to his SUV rolled down.

Spencer stared at him and frowned slightly. "I'm fine, thanks." Spencer said and began to walk away from the car, but Derek's voice stopped him once again.

"Come on, I heard JJ mentioning something about the subway. We're neighbors, I'd feel like a jackass if I let you walk." When Spencer didn't say anything, Derek groaned and opened the passenger door. "Just get in the damn car, genius."

Spencer's eyes glanced back and forth between the subway station and Morgan before he sighed and finally climbed in the car. "Fine," he mumbled as he closed the door and buckled himself in.

The drive home between the two profilers was quiet, nothing but the radio, which had been playing smooth R&B, filled the awkward silence between them.

"So, are you settling okay?" Derek asked, looking over at Spencer before returning his eyes to the road.

Spencer licked his lips before responding. "Yeah, everyone's really nice."

"You seem to know JJ really well," Derek said as he pulled down the street to their apartment complex.

Spencer nodded and cleared his throat. "Yeah, she's made everything easier for me," he explained, letting out a small sigh of relief as Derek parked the car.

"So, is that how you got on the team?" Derek's question quickly stopped Spencer from opening the door, his head snapped towards Morgan.

"What?" Spencer asked, already feeling his anger building up.

"I heard you and JJ talking in the bullpen. 'Big sister, little brother'. Be honest with me."

Spencer glared at Morgan who recoiled. "Are you seriously accusing me of nepotism, Agent Morgan?" Spencer practically spat.

Derek swallowed slightly before he shrugged. "I'm just trying to understand you."

"Well then try to understand when I tell you I earned my spot in the FBI and the BAU, sorry if this doesn't fit into whatever fantasy you might have," Spencer said, tearing his gaze away from Morgan and climbing out the car, strongly resisting the urge to slam the door.

"I just don't understand how-" Derek began as he followed Spencer through the front door of the building. They had began climbing the stairs when Spencer quickly turned around and continued to glare at Derek.

"How I what? Joined the FBI? I applied to the Academy, just like you. I trained and graduated from the Academy, just like you. I took the profiling classes and passed, just like you. If I missed something, please tell me what it is because I for some reason can't figure out what!"

Without waiting for a response, Spencer quickly ran up the stairs, pulling his keys out of his pocket as he climbed. Reaching the sixth floor, he opened his door quickly and slammed it, leaving Derek Morgan standing at the bottom of the stairs, unsure of what to do.

Derek rubbed a hand over his scalp as he quietly stepped into his apartment, the argument from just moments before replaying in his head.

It was frustrating. A part of him was angry and confused because it seems like this kid just walked into the BAU and had everything handed to him. The other part is stumped. As a profiler, he found it easy to sort people into different groups based on their behavior and the way their mind works, but he can't just do that with Spencer Reid.

The guy on his left shoulder was telling him that it was okay to be angry with Reid. Derek had worked hard to be where he was. But the guy on his right shoulder was telling him he was wrong, that he needed to give the kid a break, get to actually know him beyond the entire hour he had spent with him after learning that his name wasn't Springer.

Derek Morgan just didn't know what to do.

He walked over to his couch and plopped down, letting all the stress and tension that built up over the day slowly ease its way.

Then his phone rang.

Derek let out a small groan as he sat up to pull his phone out of his pocket. Reading the caller ID, he sighed and unlocked the phone.

"Hey, Baby Girl-"

"Don't you Baby Girl me, Derek Morgan, I'm angry at you," he could feel the glare that Garcia was no doubt sending through the phone.

Derek's eyes widened and sighed. He knew a pissed off Penelope Garcia was a scary and dangerous thing, no reason to tiptoe around it. "What did I do this time?"

"Don't even try to pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. I just got off the phone with a frustrated Jennifer Jareau and you know two pissed off blondes is never an odd in your favor, sweet cheeks."

Derek grunted and rolled his eyes. "I 'actually don't know what you're talking about, mama. If you could elaborate a little more, maybe I could help you?"

"You're a jerk, I hope you know that," Garcia began, her voice full of venom. "JJ called me after she got off the phone with Reid. He didn't say anything, but JJ knows him best, and she could tell something was wrong. Now tell me, what did you do to 187?"

Derek furrowed his brow. "What kind of nickname is that?"

"Not the time, Derek!"

"What makes you think I even did something?"

"I may not be a profiler, but I can tell when you're hiding something, now spill."

Derek sighed and fell back into the couch. "I drove him home and we might have had a little argument," he began.

"An argument about what?"

"I may have accused him of nepotism?"

He flinched slightly when Garcia let out a loud gasp. "What the hell, Derek? Why?"

"It's bugging me-" he cut himself off, unsure of what to say next.

"What's bugging you?"

"Him!"

"Reid?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I don't know," he blurted out, sitting up and resting his elbows on his knees, sighing. "He's a skinny kid who looks like he'd be blown over the minute someone turned on a fan near him. How did a kid like that get through any of the physical training?"

"Derek, you don't know anything about him-"

"He's a genius who gets everything handed to him, he's gotta be. If he's as old as you say he was, how the hell did he get into the BAU so quick? How did he-" He went to continue but Garcia quickly cut him off.

"You don't have any idea do you? Derek, seriously, I don't understand. You know nothing of what he's been through," Garcia explained. Derek detected a small hint of concern in the tone of her voice, but he quickly shrugged it off.

"And you do?"

"Yes," Garcia spat. "I've actually taken the time to know him."

"Garcia, he could've been lying to you-"

"Shut up, Derek. You know the entire time that I've known you, you are like the glistening hero in the movie of life. And now, just because some guy, some guy who turns out be a very genuine person comes along and intimidates you, you feel you have the right to make it personal? Really, Derek?"

"I'm not-"

"A wise black man once told me, "Baby girl, you be trippin." So I'll tell you what, why don't you call me back once you've gotten off the self-absorption train and decide to be the Derek Morgan I actually know. I'm hanging up on you!"

The dial tone echoed through Derek's apartment as he stared at phone and sighed. "I think I've got a lot thinking to do tonight."

* * *

Spencer dropped his bag on the floor after he slammed the door and plopped down on the couch.

"Why is that man so frustrating!" he murmured to the empty apartment. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed

"Figures, the one person on this team that doesn't like me is my god damn neighbor," he continued to mumble things under his breath as he repositioned himself on his couch so he was stretched out across it.

Spencer closed his eyes, throwing an arm over them and sighing, hoping to store today's events in the section of his memory warehouse with the other memories he never wanted to be able to recall.

He groaned when he heard his phone ringing. Without opening his eyes, he reached into his pocket and unlocked the phone, bringing it up to his ear.

"Reid," he mumbled out.

"Hello to you too, Spence." Spencer let himself smile slightly at the sound of JJ's voice but it was quickly replaced with the frown when a thought popped in his head.

"PLEASE don't tell me we have a case," he whined as he sat up on the couch.

He heard JJ giggle slightly before responding. "No, don't worry. Big sister just wanted to make sure you got home okay," she joked.

"Yeah," he said, letting out a sigh. He leaned back into the couch. "Didn't take the Metro though."

"Then how did you get home?"

"Morgan."

"Not that I'm not happy that you didn't have to take the subway," JJ began. "But why did Derek Morgan offer you a ride home?

Biting his lip, Spencer took a moment before responding. "He's, well," he fumbled over the words. "He's sort of my neighbor?"

"Your neighbor? Like, you live in the same building?"

"Try across the hall," Spencer mumbled out.

"Well, that's lucky then. You won't have to take the Metro."

"I'd rather take the subway thanks," Spencer said it before he could stop himself.

"What does that mean?" He could hear the same tone in her voice that she got when she was worried about something with Henry.

"Nothing, JJ, I swear."

"You're lying to me Spence, I can tell."

Spencer sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "We had a disagreement on the way home and I'd rather not talk about Agent Morgan. I obviously need to get to know him better or he needs to get used to me like the rest of the team did. Nothing to worry about."

There was silence between the two of them. "How about I give you a ride in tomorrow?"

Spencer quirked an eyebrow. "Why? Not that I'm not appreciative, but I don't want to be a bother. I'm completely the other way for you on the way into Quantico and -"

JJ quickly cut him off. "Spencer, just say yes."

"Sure."

JJ's laugh made him grin. The two of them exchanged 'goodnight's' and Spencer headed bed, hoping for a better tomorrow.

* * *

Derek groaned and rolled over to turn off his alarm. He rubbed a hand over his face and sat up, stretching.

He hadn't gotten much sleep that night, much of it spent thinking about Spencer. He knew he wasn't being fair to the kid. Between being put on suspension, Elle quitting and all the other garbage he had been dealing with lately, Derek had let his anger get the better of him.

He quickly got ready for work and made sure to restock his go-bag, they never knew when they would be brought out on a case and it was easier to be prepared. After double checking everything, Derek called a friend to check in on Clooney and walked out the door.

Locking his behind him, Derek turned to Spencer's door, debating with himself. 'Kid is probably pissed off at me,' Derek thought to himself. 'Maybe offering him a ride might make things slightly easier.'

Derek walked over to Spencer's door and knocked. There wasn't a response. So, he knocked again. "Reid? It's Morgan." Again, nothing.

'Kid is either asleep or on the Metro,' Derek thought to himself and sighed. He eyed Spencer's door one more time before he turned and made his way down the stairs.

Derek walked into the BAU a half hour later and was surprised to see Spencer already at his desk, a travel mug in one hand while the other flipped through a case file.

Derek dropped his stuff off at his desk before making his way over to Spencer's. "Hey, Reid."

"Morgan," Spencer didn't even turn around.

Derek sighed. 'So, the kid's not going to make this easy is he.' He positioned himself so that he was sitting on the end of Spencer's desk. "I stopped by your apartment to give you a ride this morning-"

"You already know where he lives?" Emily cut him off. Derek jumped slightly and noticed that Spencer had done the same.

"Didn't see you there, Prentiss," Derek mumbled.

Emily shrugged her shoulders and smiled. "You didn't answer my question. You've only known Reid for a day, how do you know where he lives?"

"We're neighbors," Derek said.

"Have been for six years, four months and thirteen days," Spencer supplied.

Derek turned himself back towards the younger boy and raised an eyebrow. "How do you know-"

"Eidetic memory," Emily supplied as she stood up from her desk and made her way over to the small break area in the BAU.

"So, kid," Derek began. "I, uh, want to apologize for last night."

Spencer then turned towards him, an eyebrow raised. "Apologize for what exactly? The part where you accused me of gaining my position because of my personal relationship with JJ, or the part where you didn't think I was strong enough to make it through the required training?"

Derek swallowed slightly and his shoulders slumped. "All of it. Listen, I-"

He went to continue but he was quickly cut off as JJ's voice cut in. "Guys, we're gathering!" She called. Derek and Spencer both turned towards her as she made her way past them on the catwalk towards the meeting room.

"We'll continue this later?" Derek asked, looking to Spencer.

Spencer thought for a moment and nodded, causing Derek to let out a relieved sigh. Derek smiled and patted Spencer on the shoulder before making his way to the meeting room.


	4. Chapter 4

"Portland, Oregon," JJ began, as everyone opened the case files on the table, looking between the files and the screen. Four faces popped up as JJ continued. "Four victims. Two male, two female."

Spencer flipped through the files, the pictures of the victims, the statistics, and ME reports, quickly cataloged in his mind. He searched his memory for similar victimology in other known cases as JJ continued to explain the case.

"There was a mass grave uncovered with three bodies killed six months ago, a fourth body was found nearby yesterday."

"Causes of death range from asphyxiation to being burned alive," Rossi stated as he looked up from his case file. JJ nodded as the image of the mass grave popped up on the screen.

"No signs of sexual assault."

"Well, the torture is clearly sadistic," Derek offered.

"And the lack of sexual preference is going to make it difficult to determine if the unsub is male or female." Spencer added.

Derek looked over at him with a fascinated look upon his face. He had heard from Garcia how quick Reid was to figure things out, and was interested to see him work.

"Typically, female serial killers stick to the same MO. This guy looks to be all over the place," Emily pointed out.

"Latest victim was Jenny Whitman who was discovered yesterday, died of asphyxiation."

"How long was she missing?" Spencer asked, looking over to Hotch.

"She wasn't reported missing."

Spencer furrowed his brow. "And the others?"

"Only one."

"One of four?"

"Rick Holland was reported missing nine months ago," JJ explained as she pulled the missing person's report up on the screen. "The search was called off though."

"His family discovered his car at the train station," Hotch read from the report. "But more importantly, they received emails from him saying he needed to time to figure things out."

"And his family bought that?" Derek asked.

"I guess the alternative's too hard to accept."

"Reaching out could be a sign of remorse," Spencer suggested.

"Psychopaths don't apologize for their behavior, this guy's trying to cover his tracks."

"Well, it's working," Derek mumbled as he looked back down at his file.

"So, he buried three victims in one grave and only Jenny Whitman in the other," Emily said as she got up and went over to evidence board, pointing between the two photos.

"You thinking it's a pattern?" Derek asked, looking at her.

"It's hard to tell," she responded.

"If there is. One down, two more to go. We'll figure out more on the jet. Wheels up in 30." Hotch got up from the room, Rossi and Emily following him while discussing the possible pattern.

Derek gathered his things and looked over to Spencer, who was rereading through the file.

"Spence, wanna ride to the strip?" JJ asked.

'Damn it,' Derek thought to himself. 'I'll try to talk to him on the jet if there's time.'

Spencer nodded and got up, following her out, Derek not too far behind them.

* * *

Derek sat next to Emily on the jet with Rossi and Hotch across from them. JJ was sitting on the couch, while Spencer sat cross legged on the cabinet next to it.

"Can we go over what Fortland found?" Aaron asked as they all looked over their case files.

"One female and two male victims found buried together in the same grave. All aged 25 to 30 and all had been dead 6 months," JJ explained as she read through the report.

"That sounds like 3 different MO's," Emily pointed out.

"Uh, the Phantom Sniper, Gary Taylor? He was all over the map, just like this guy. He changed his MO as his need to control the situation changed," Spencer explained, ignoring the surprised look Derek gave him at the information.

"What about the fresh grave?" Hotch asked.

"One female, 28, roughly dead 48 hours. She was asphyxiated," JJ answered.

"It's a good thing this guy's dumpsite has been compromised," Derek said as he looked up from his file.

"Soon as the unsub knows that?" Emily began. "He may feel pressured that we're on to him. It could push him to make a mistake."

Everyone jumped slightly when they heard the beep from the computer and Garcia's image popped up. "Attention team members. This killer continues to stoop to an all time low of lows by posing as his victims." She explained. "He's also manipulated two of the families into thinking that everything was okay even after they were reported missing."

Everyone shared a grim face as Garcia continued. "They received a fake email from their daughter that said that she had met this guy who was taking her to her favorite place in Australia for a few weeks. The family had contacted the Australian authorities after too much time had passed."

"This guy sure knows a lot of personal information about his victims," Derek pointed out.

"How did he get access to their email accounts?" Emily asked.

"The screen name was the same, but the domains were different," Garcia explained. "The families never noticed. When I find more pieces of the puzzle, I'll let you know. Garcia, out!" And her image popped away.

* * *

After landing in Portland, the BAU team had made their way to the local FBI Field Office where they had met SSA Bill Calvert. Emily, Rossi and JJ had decided to stay behind at the precinct while Hotch, Morgan and Reid headed to Jenny Whitman's apartment.

Derek knew he couldn't talk to Spencer in the car on the way to the apartment, especially since Hotch was in the car. He just hoped he would have the chance later.

"Whitman's place in on the fourth floor," Spencer said as the three men arrived at the elevator. Derek walked in followed by Spencer. "Can you get in here?" Spencer asked Hotch, taking in how small the elevator actually was.

Hotch looked at it once and shook his head. "I'll meet you guys up there," he said and made his way to the stairs.

Both Spencer and Derek remained quiet as the elevator doors closed and it slowly made its ascent.

"So, Reid-"

"Not now, Morgan."

"What do you-"

"I know you want to talk. I want to talk, but not right now, wait until we're at the hotel or something-"

Spencer was cut off as the elevator came to a sudden stop and creaked as it froze.

Derek started to jump slightly.

"Don't do that," Spencer ordered.

Derek jumped again. "Why isn't it moving?" He asked.

"I don't know," Spencer glared at Derek as he started pushing the buttons. "Don't-, stop-"

"What?" Derek continued to repeatedly push the buttons.

"Don't!"

"What's the problem?"

"Don't do that!"

"Why not?"

"Because there are 6 elevator-related deaths per year, not to mention 10,000 injuries that require hospitalization," Derek was surprised at how easily Spencer had rambled that out. "Chill out."

Derek shrugged. "Those sound like pretty good odds to me," he said, starting to push the buttons again. Spencer tried to knock his hand away. "What? What are you scared, Reid?"

Spencer glared slightly. "I'm not scared."

"You're scared, aren't you?"

"I don't want to be in an elevator with you to be honest-"

"You're scared. You're scared!" Derek continued to push the button, amused with the way Spencer kept fidgeting and knocking his hand. "What if I push that? What if-"

He was cut off when the elevator dropped suddenly and froze again, causing both him and Spencer to cling to the wall. Derek grabbed the bar that wrapped around the interior of the elevator as Spencer pushed himself against the wall.

"Woah. Woah, okay-"

"Um, hit the, hit the, yeah-" Spencer stuttered as he flipped up the top to the emergency alarm and gestured his hands towards. "Push it! It's not a-"

Derek pushed and pulled the alarm as Spencer continued to flail his hand towards it. "I'm-, push-pull, push-pull. I'm doing it! Nothing's happening!"

"Pry, pry the, pry the door open. Just, yeah-" Spencer said, almost pushing Derek towards the doors.

Derek stepped over to the doors and reached up, attempting to pull them apart. "It's stuck man," he groaned out as he continued to pull.

Suddenly, the elevator shook again and froze just as it had done before. Derek quickly moved back to the corner. "No, no, no. Not today. No, not today," he mumbled.

"Hotch?" Reid called out, his voice squeaked in the higher pitch.

"Hotch!" Derek called out as he continued to push the alarm.

After what seemed like hours, the elevator cooperated and the doors opened, revealing Hotch giving the pair an alarmed look.

He stepped aside as Derek quickly stumbled out and sat against the wall, Spencer stepped out slowly behind him.

"Was that the alarm? Are you guys okay?" Hotch asked, looking between the two of them.

"Let me get back to you on that," Spencer murmured, and Hotch led the way to Jenny Whitman's apartment, the two agents following slowly behind him.

* * *

When they had returned from Jenny Whitman's apartment at the field office, the little they had learned from her apartment added to what they knew about the other victims: they were ready to give a profile.

With the unsub's dumpsites being found, he had been forced to change part of his MO. With him being a person who thrives on control, it's not going to be easy for him. He was able to get away with the three first murders because he got meticulous at every stage.

His victims, as of now, only share the fact that they're new to the city and that they each died a tortuous death.

The unsub craved control, most likely coming from a place of weakness, and probably had been abused. He's probably married, he craves stability and security, and he's had every moment planned.

Unfortunately after giving the profile, they really didn't have any more leads]. The decided to head back to their hotel for the night and start fresh tomorrow.

They were all exhausted and were incredibly happy once they had arrived at the hotel.

"Unfortunately," JJ began as the rest of the team grouped around her in the hotel lobby. "We're going to have to double up on rooms."

There was a collective groan from the team.

"Hotch, you and Rossi are on the fifth floor in room sixteen," she said as she handed the two of them the key.

JJ gave Spencer an apologetic look, he shrugged in response as she hanged Derek a key. "Morgan, you and Reid are on the ninth floor in room twenty-two, while Emily and I are on the fourth floor in room twenty-six."

They all grabbed their go-bags and made their way towards the elevator, while Spencer started to make his way towards the stairwell, everyone giving him a strange look.

"Reid, where are you going?" Rossi asked.

"I'm taking the stairs," he said as he turned to face them.

"You're on the ninth floor, do you really want to walk all the way up there?" Emily asked him, raising an eyebrow slightly.

Spencer shrugged. "I don't want to risk anything. Statistically, I probably won't get stuck in an elevator again, considering that there's a 1% chance in your life that you'd get stuck in an elevator anyway," he rambled, running a hand through his hair before he continued "I'm a small, walking magnet for trouble-"

JJ cut him off with a snort. "Small?"

He glared at her slightly. "As I was saying, odds are usually never in my favor, so, I'd rather take the stairs." With that, he turned away from them and made his way up the stairs.

"I'm actually going to go with him," Derek said quickly, surprising the others as he ran over to the stairwell, trying to catch up to Spencer.

"I thought those two weren't getting along, yet?" Hotch asked as he and the rest of the team stepped into the elevator and pushed their designated floors.

Emily shrugged slightly. "They basically ignore each other, at least that's what I've seen with both of them in the bullpen."

'"I'd thought it would be easier, considering they're neighbors."

JJ shook her head. "Spencer hardly knows him. I think they got into an argument on the way home earlier this week, but I don't know over what."

Rossi shrugged. "We'll just let them figure everything out."

* * *

As they walked into their hotel room, Spencer and Derek dropped themselves down on the separate beds, giving themselves time to catch their breath.

"Living on the sixth floor doesn't seem that bad anymore," Derek said as he sat up wiping a hand over his face.

"Yeah," Spencer replied. He swallowed and got up from the bed, going through his go bag. Derek soon followed suit.

"Do you mind if I take the first shower?" Derek asked him. Reid shook his head in response. "Go ahead, I'm a morning shower person anyway."

After getting out the shower and getting dressed in a muscle shirt and pajamas pants, Derek made his way back into the main room. Spencer was sitting cross legged on his bed, dressed in plaid pajama pants and an oversized FBI shirt. His glasses were on and he was flipping through the case files of the victims. He looked up when he heard the bathroom door close.

"So," he began as he piled the files together and placed them on the nightstand. "You wanted to talk?"

Derek nodded and sat on the part of his bed that was closest to Spencer. "Reid, I want to apologize. I know I haven't been fair or even nice to you. All of these problems in my life just sort of mashed themselves together and I took it out on you."

"Nothing that I'm not used to," Spencer mumbled as he brought his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them.

Derek raised an eyebrow slightly, but brushed the comment off not wanting to risk pissing Spencer off anymore.

"I know it might take awhile for you to forgive me and I understand that. I just want you to know I'm sorry and I was hoping, if you'd give me the chance, we could start over?" Derek asked.

Spencer looked at him and nodded, causing Derek to grin. Derek stuck his hand out and frowned when all Reid did was stare at it.

"It's just a handshake."

Spencer licked his lips before responding. "The number of pathogens passed during a handshake is staggering, it's actually safer to kiss."

Derek blinked and shook his head when Spencer cracked up and laughed slightly. "Very funny, kid. We okay?"

Spencer nodded and shook Derek's hand. "Spencer Reid."

"Derek Morgan."

* * *

The next few days, the team noticed the change in both Derek and Spencer. No one was snapping or getting angry. There were little jabs of teasing here and there, but nothing that set the other agent off.

Another victim had been found: Patrick Walker, he was drowned. Emily and Derek had been at the crime scene when they called the victim into the others at the precinct.

" _Fire, hanging, asphyxiation. Now we've got a drowning."_ Hotch had listed off. Then Spencer had a breakthrough.

" _I think it's someone who's afraid of drowning."_

" _What do you mean?"_

" _It hit me when Morgan freaked out when we were stuck in the elevator."_

" _You freaked out?"_

" _I freaked out?"_

Spencer had deduced that the unsub's MO of the victims could all be classified as anxiety disorders. They were all being killed by their fears.

When Spencer and Emily had gone to a laundromat that was near Walker's apartment, they had found a flyer that was advertising a research project where they would be paid to get over their anxieties.

With Garcia's help, they had traced the flyers back to something called the Goodman Institute run by a Barry Goodman who was said to be the best in his field.

After some more research, they had traced things back to a Doctor Stanley Howard. Having spoken to the unsub's wife which led them to an abandoned business building that he was using as his office to lure the victims in, it had belonged to his wife's family.

When they arrived, they had chased Howard up to the buildings roof, where he unfortunately took a death plunge. Fortunately they had found his last victim, Missy Casswell, buried alive in the building's elevator shaft.

They were now back on the jet to Quantico. Hotch and Rossi had taken a corner to fill out reports while the others sat at the table toward the front of the plane.

"JJ, what are you reading?" Emily asked, looking across the table to the blonde who was sitting next to Spencer.

JJ had a frustrated look on her face and was practically glaring at the magazine in her hands.

"There's this article in Marie Claire called "What's Your Number?," JJ began. She placed the magazine down on the table so that the others could look. "It says that women who have over twenty lovers have more difficulty finding a husband."

"That sounds like my thesis for my philosophy bachelors," Spencer said as he read through the article.

"Philosophy? That really doesn't fit in with mathematics or engineering."

Spencer smiled at Emily and shrugged. "I kind of like it because there's no right or wrong answers."

"What's the thesis?" Derek asked.

A look of surprise quickly crossed Spencer's face before he answered. "It's a study to show that a person with multiple relationships would have a more difficult time trying to find their desired 'life partner' than someone who has had fewer relationships. My only problem is I can't find someone to take part in the study."

"Which half?" JJ asked.

"Someone who has had more relationships than me."

"You should ask Morgan," Emily suggested, she gently poked Derek in the side to let him know that she was teasing.

He slapped her hand away before turning to Spencer. "Actually, I wouldn't mind helping."

"Really?" JJ, Spencer, and Emily said at once, causing Derek to furrow his brow in confusion.

"Yes, what do you need me to do?"

Spencer swallowed slightly before answering. "Uh, can we discuss this later? That way I can have my data sheets with me and can explain the process and everything else a little better."

Derek nodded. "Sure, I'll drive you home and we can go from there?"

Spencer nodded as he slipped a hand into his messenger bag and took out a copy of  _The Varieties of Scientific Experiences_ by Carl Sagan. The rest of the way home, they all fell into a comfortable silence.

 


	5. Chapter 5

After stopping by a Thai place that Spencer had suggested on the way back from the air strip, the two made their way up the stairs, deciding to go to Spencer's apartment. "We can do it at yours just fine," Spencer had said on the way.

"You've run into my apartment twice, I think I deserve a chance to see yours," Derek had argued. Spencer didn't have any sort of rebuttal and gave in.

After they had reached their floor, Spencer handed his food to Derek so that he could unlock and open the door.

"I'm sorry if it's a bit messy," Spencer mumbled as he took his food back from Derek and stepped into his apartment. He turned a light on as he made his way to the kitchen.

"There should be an empty table somewhere to your right," Spencer called out to him.

Derek closed the door behind him and turned to get a look at Spencer's apartment. It wasn't as much as a loft as his was but that could be for the fact that it seemed there were bookshelves  _everywhere_.

The walls were a dark forest green and the dark wood of the furniture and bookshelves complimented it well. There were at least 6 wide, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves that were overflowing with books. There was a table with a chess game setup and Derek smiled when he saw a turntable on a cabinet close to the table Spencer must've been talking about.

He placed his food down on the table and shrugged his jacket off as Spencer came back in the room carrying two bottles of beer, two bottles of water, and paper plates.

"Sorry about the mess," he apologized as he placed everything on the table. Derek smiled at him and shrugged.

"It's fine man, you've got a great place," he started taking a plate and sorting out their food. "How did you manage to get the stained glass window?"

Spencer turned to glance at it before turning back to Derek. "I sort of broke the original window," he began as he sat down at the table and gestured to Derek to do the same. "It was a year or two ago. I had gotten a little angry with the ending of the book I had been reading and threw it out the window."

Derek's eyebrows shot up in surprise and he had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep himself from laughing. "How did Gideon take that?"

Spencer shrugged as he took a fork and started to eat some of the noodles on his plate. "I think he still doesn't know; I put the window in there myself."

The two ate in a comfortable silence. When they were finished, Derek helped Spencer clean up and throw away their trash before he followed him to the couch. He sat down and Spencer went to his bedroom to gather the materials he would need.

"So," Spencer said as he entered the room, taking the spot on the couch next to Derek. He placed the papers and notebook in his hands on the coffee table. "I figured this project will require to spend a lot of time together, you don't mind do you? I completely understand if you-"

"Reid!" Derek quickly cut him off and chuckled. "Man, breathe. I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be. I want to help you."

Spencer stared at him for a few moments before giving a small nod. "As I was saying, with the amount of time that we're going to be spending together, I figured we should start by asking each other a few questions. That way this won't be awkward and will make it a little bit more comfortable for the both us."

Derek nodded. "So, how do you wanna do this? I ask you some questions, you ask me some questions?"

Spencer swallowed slightly before responding. "Yeah, and we both hold the right to not answer a question if we wish not to. Though if there is something you'd want to share that would be difficult for you, I would reciprocate."

"Sounds good. Shall I start?"

Spencer nodded.

"Alright, so. Tell me a little bit about Doctor Reid. Are you really as old as Garcia said you were?"

Spencer blinked and raised an eyebrow. "How old did she say I was?"

"26."

"Then that would be correct."

Derek smiled. "Then how did you manage to get so many degrees  _and_  join the bureau is such a short amount of time?" Derek originally thought about saving that question for later, since that subject had a place in their arguments.

'Better to get it out of the way now,' Derek thought to himself as he waited for Spencer to answer.

Spencer took a deep breath and let it out. "I graduated high school when I was 12-"

"You were in high school at  _12_?"

"Genius, remember?"

Derek laughed slightly. "Right, right. Sorry, continue."

Spencer cleared his throat. "I went to CalTech when I was 13, and managed to get doctorates in both mathematics and physics while I was there. I graduated from there when I was 16, before I went to MIT and got my doctorate in engineering. I graduated from there at 18 and moved here. I've been taking classes on and off at Georgetown and a few more at George Washington."

"Damn kid, and the bureau?"

Spencer took a quick sip of his water before responding. "I was taking some criminal justice classes while I was working on my bachelors in sociology and quickly got taken in by, well, everything. I was actually at one of Rossi's book signings with JJ and we both applied to the Academy. I was 22."

Derek was shocked to say the least. That is an incredible feat, considering the FBI never really took in cadets younger than 23.

"The books and classes were fine, I blew through them within a month. I guess the brass was impressed and got me through basic with some leverage and then I was placed, unfortunately, on Cooper's team," Spencer explained, his eyes darting to the floor at his own mention of his former boss.

Derek frowned slightly. He had heard rumors about things about Cooper's team and wondered if any had been personal to Spencer, but he wasn't going to talk about that now.

"I am really sorry I misjudged you, I am." The statement managed to get Spencer to look him straight in the eye and the sincerity.

Spencer smiled and shrugged. "It's in the past now right? Lemme know some things about Agent Morgan."

Derek grinned. "Ask away."

Spencer tipped his head to the slide slightly trying to think of what to ask. "Probably just as fair to ask you about your schooling and such before the FBI?"

Derek was hesitant for a minute, but figured there's nothing wrong with sticking to the simple stuff. "Grew up in Chicago, went to Northwestern on a football scholarship. Worked a few years in the Chicago PD, a few years on the bomb squad, and then applied for the job in the BAU."

Spencer could tell that he was leaving things out, but wasn't gonna press him on it. "Your turn."

Derek thought for a moment, trying to find the right way to word the question he wanted to ask without pissing Spencer off. "I'm just saying this from my point of view, this could be the question you'd rather not answer, I completely understand. It just seemed like you were really relieved to get away from Cooper's team. Why?"

Spencer blinked at him for a few moments as he unconsciously pulled on the sleeves of his cardigan. He sighed. "Being a 12 year old in a Las Vegas High School-"

"Vegas? Know your way around the casinos?"

Spencer smiled slightly, not even caring that Morgan had cut him off. "I'm actually banned from several casinos in Las Vegas, Laughlin and Pahrump because of my card counting abilities."

Spencer couldn't help but laugh at the look on Derek's face. "You're kidding me right?"

Spencer shook his head. Derek laughed. "Sorry for cutting you off, continue."

"It goes without saying I'm no stranger to bullies," Spencer explained, his gaze turned to his lap. "There was this case in a small town in Texas. A spree killer, a teenage boy who was bullied by the entire school," Spencer's voice cracked slightly as he began to recall the memory. "He was just trying to get out of the town with his girlfriend. We had her at the precinct, and I had figured out that Owen was going to come to the police station."

Derek didn't say anything. This was was one of the rumors that he had heard about, and it was strange hearing it come from Spencer.

"I had told Cooper, Rawson, and Simms that he would be going somewhere related to his mother, I just wasn't clear on what. They automatically assumed her grave," his voice cracked on the last word and he quickly took another sip of his water.

"But you knew he was coming to his girl?" Derek asked. Spencer nodded. "Nothing happened. I was able to talk him down from shooting anyone from inside the station. It was easy because, I - it was easy to identify with him you know?"

Derek remained silent.

"I didn't want to see the kid killed because it was something that, with the right steps taken and the right things that should've happened, everything could've been avoided," Spencer had to fight to keep his anger at bay. "For some reason, Rawson and Simms decided to taunt me about it. How it's weird that I'm identifying with the unsub and it was just, I don't even know," the last was whispered as Spencer kept the emotion bottled up.

Derek frowned slightly before he reached over and took one of Spencer's hands and squeezed it, causing the other man to look at him with surprise.

"Those guys? They're dicks. You don't need to worry about them anymore, okay?" Spencer nodded. "We're different from them. Very different, keep that in mind."

"I'm sorry," Spencer mumbled as he pulled his hand away from Derek and wrapped his arms around his stomach. Derek figured this would be a good time to end for the night.

"We're both exhausted, you have nothing to be sorry for. How about we both get some sleep and since we have a week off, we can continue this tomorrow?"

Spencer sighed and nodded. "That's probably a good idea."

Derek smiled as he got up from the couch and made his way towards the door. He grabbed his jacket and his go-bag, and Spencer followed to see him out.

"So, just come on over tomorrow whenever you want and we can get more into this and your project. You know where I live," Derek said, grinning when he saw the smile on his face.

"Sounds good," Spencer replied as he watched Derek unlock and open the door to his apartment. Wishing Derek a goodnight, Spencer turned back into his apartment and began to close the door. Before it clicked shut, he heard Derek say something.

"See you tomorrow, Pretty Boy!"

* * *

Spencer was woken up the next day by a repetition of knocking on his door. He groaned and rolled over to his right, opening his eyes just enough to see that it was a quarter after 11. He slowly sat up in bed and grabbed his glasses off the nightstand. Getting up from his bed, he ran a hand through his hair and went to the front door. Looking through the peephole, he frowned when he saw it was Derek.

Spencer sighed and unlocked the door. Derek was standing there smiling, but once he took a look at Reid, he raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Did I wake you?"

Spencer nodded. "It's okay though," he said quickly, not wanting Derek to feel guilty. " I needed to get up anyway. I thought I was gonna come get you to continue with the project?"

Derek shrugged. "I'm easily bored: the time I had off for my suspension didn't help me much. I'm sorry for waking you up. Do you want me to come back later?"

Spencer shook his head and stepped back to allow Derek into the apartment. "No, you're fine. I just need to change and get a cup of coffee, or three."

Derek chuckled slightly as he sat down on on the leather couch and Spencer made his way to his bedroom to change out of his pajamas.

"Do you want me to make a batch?" Derek called out to Spencer as he stood up from the couch and made his way to Spencer's kitchen, not waiting for an answer.

"That would be appreciated!"

Derek nodded and looked through Spencer's cabinets until he found two mugs and started the coffee maker.

After leaving a few things on table, Spencer met Derek in the kitchen and took the freshly poured coffee that was held out to him.

"Thank you," he said, as he reached for the sugar next to the coffee maker. Derek's eyes widened as Reid poured, what seemed like, an enormous amount of sugar.

"Damn, kid, you want some coffee with that sugar?" Derek teased.

Spencer shrugged in response as he took a sip. "This is usually the only thing that helps me function after I first wake up," he explained as he turned and leaned against the counter.

Derek chuckled. "Whatever you say, Pretty Boy."

Spencer furrowed his brow and looked at Derek, confused. "You said that last night too. What does it mean?"

"Pretty Boy?" Spencer nodded. "It's a nickname, means I like you," he explained, grinning all the while.

Derek watched the thought pass over Spencer's face and continued to smile as he watched the other man nod. "So, are we starting the project today?"

Spencer nodded and gestured towards the couch. "Yeah, let's move to the living room and I can explain things a little better."

Derek followed Spencer, sitting down on the couch while Spencer sat on the coffee table, handing him a legal pad and a pen.

"What we'll need to do first is make a list of all the people we've had a relationship with."

Derek raised an eyebrow. "All?"

Spencer thought for a moment before he responded. "Well, the ones that there were more of a sexual relationship." Derek nodded and looked down at the pad of paper, writing down the first names that came to mind. After a few, he was stumped and looked over at Reid, surprised to see that the other man wasn't writing.

"Are you done?"

"You're not?"

Derek shook his head. "I'm having difficulty remembering a few names."

Spencer raised an eyebrow. "You've been with so many girls, you can't remember all their names?"

Derek snorted. "Not all of us have a photographic memory."

Spencer rolled his eyes. "Eidetic and that mainly pertains to things I read rather than hear. It took me until I saw her name written down to stop calling Garcia 'Gomez'." That caused Derek to laugh, Spencer grinning in return.

"Would it make it easier if you listed the ones you thought that meant something?" Derek thought it over then nodded, quickly going over the list he already had and finished a few moments later.

"Damn, this still leaves me with 19," he grumbled. "How many did that article JJ was reading say?"

"10.5"

Derek groaned. "Okay, I'm using this to both our advantages because I don't want to be a 20."

Spencer looked at him, confused. "How exactly are you going to avoid that?"

"I've had 'somewhat meaningful' with 19 people," Derek started, looking over at Spencer. "Well, one of them has to be 'the one'."

Spencer cocked his head to the side and looked upon Derek with fascination. "Statistically speaking, I don't think that's entirely accurate, but it would serve as an interesting twist in this project. How do you suggest finding these women and continuing with that hypothesis?"

"Easy. Garcia," Derek answered, smirking slightly. "We'll just have to get her in on the project too, if you don't mind of course."

Spencer shrugged. "She'll definitely make it easier, and definitely a lot quicker."

"How about you?" Derek asked. Spencer shot him another look of confusion. "Is there a certain number you don't want to cross, or do you want to look back into any former relationships?"

"I don't really have a number exactly, given how many people there actually are on my list. There's at least one I know I definitely don't need to revisit," he explained.

"Really, who?" Derek smirked as he saw Spencer's pale complexion turn red. "Oh now you need to share, Pretty Boy."

Spencer swallowed slightly before responding. "I was in LA visiting a friend from high school, he had an art show going on. Later in the night, he introduced me to this actress. After some awkward conversations, mainly on my part, we somehow ended up at her place." He licked his lip slightly, ignoring the small smirk on Derek's face.

"There may have been some kissing in her pool and that led to  _other_  things," as he finished, he finally looked over to Derek.

"So, what was this actress' name?"

"Lila Archer."

Derek's smile quickly fell into a frown. Spencer furrowed his brow in confusion and stared at Derek. "What?"

Derek wiped a hand over his face and sighed. "That's definitely a name I can cross off my list then," he mumbled.

Spencer continued to stare and finally blinked when he understood. "You too, huh?"

Derek nodded. "We were in LA investigating a series of murders-"

"That were occurring around her," Spencer finished for him.

Derek raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, how do you know that?"

Spencer cleared his throat slightly. "I-I was there during the investigation I guess you could say. A little before you and Elle, I think, showed up, we had been making out in the pool. She had sent me upstairs to change and I just ended up hiding in her bedroom until you guys left," he explained, looking at Derek with a sheepish grin.

"Wait, were you the one on the cover of that tabloid with her? 'Mystery Man in Lila's Life'?"

Spencer instantly frowned. "Don't be ridiculous, Morgan," he deadpanned.

Derek laughed and patted Spencer on the back, causing the genius to let out a groan. "I was seriously hoping that no one would bring that up again."

He looked over to Derek and raised an eyebrow."Shouldn't you be peeved by the fact that we've both had coitus with this woman?"

Derek shrugged. "Not really. Like you said earlier, its not a relationship I think I need to revisit. Besides, that one was more of a one night stand type of thing for me anyway."

Spencer nodded. "Anyone on your list you think you can-" He was cut off by Morgan's phone ringing.

"It's Garcia," he explained as he answered the call. "Hey, Baby Girl."

"Why hello, my chocolate Thor. I wish I was calling for a wonderful trip to Asgard but unfortunately-"

"We have a case," he finished for her, sending an apologetic glance towards Spencer.

"Right in one! Hotch wants everyone downtown."

"It's local?"

"Yep. It's urgent, already sent the address to your phone!"

"Thanks, mama, Reid and I will meet them there"

He flinched and pulled away from the phone as Garcia let out a squeal. "It's so nice to hear that my boys are getting along. Now stay that way." And she was gone with a click.

"We've got a case?" Spencer asked.

Derek nodded. "Urgent, but luckily local. Grab your stuff and I'll meet you at my car." Derek saw him nod and quickly grabbed his stuff from his apartment.

A few minutes later he saw Spencer leaning against his car.

"Got an address?" Derek asked he unlocked the car and the two of them climbed in. Spencer nodded and pulled out his phone.

"Yep. 751 North Harney Blvd."

 


	6. Chapter 6

Arriving at the crime scene, Spencer was quickly pulled inside by JJ as Derek walked over to Hotch.

"What've we got?" he asked as he approached.

"A couple hours ago, there was a report of shots fired," Hotch explained as Rossi stepped up.

"If we're not working a case, why were we called to the crime scene?" Derek asked.

"I was hoping one of you knew," Rossi replied, looking between the two other men.

They looked up as they saw Emily step out and gesture for them to enter the building. The four walked into the tiny apartment and saw a yellow tarp covering a body on the ground. The letters 'L.C.' were written in white chalk on the ground near the head of the body.

Spencer was sitting on the kitchen counter a few feet away, flipping through a case file.

JJ caught their attention and gestured toward a familiar man. "You all remember Detective Walker?"

The detective nodded in greeting and shook Hotch's hand. "Thank you for being here."

"Who's the victim?" Rossi asked.

"Nelson Martinez," Walker began, turning more towards the body. "What we're thinking basically was he answered his door, was forced back into his apartment at gunpoint and was then shot in the chest."

"No disrespect but why do you need us here?" Derek asked.

"Two days ago, a local doctor by the name of Thomas Barton received a letter addressed to him at the hospital. It said the person was planning to kill his son. If Doctor Barton tried to keep the boy hidden, then someone else will die in his place," the detective explained.

"The note was signed 'L.C.'" Spencer said, looking up from the case file.

"Yesterday, we had another victim. Multiple gunshot wounds outside an apartment, the shooter wrote 'L.C.' in white chalk next to the body."

"Now, unless Doctor Barton put his son in harm's way, we're gonna keep having a victim a day," Spencer explained, his face grim.

"Where's Barton now?" Rossi asked.

"He's at home, he doesn't know about this victim yet," JJ replied.

Hotch sighed and looked towards the detective. "Do you have Doctor Barton's address?" The detective nodded, and gave it to them. Hotch thanked him and turned towards the team. "We'll head over to Barton's address and go from there."

* * *

They arrived at Barton's house and quickly began to speak to him about possible courses of action. Unfortunately, everything was thrown out the window when they found out that his son, Jeffrey, had left the house and gone to school.

"Rossi, you, Morgan, and JJ head over to the school with a few of the local officers. Talk to the principal, try to explain what's going without causing too much panic," Hotch ordered. The others nodded and they left, leaving Hotch, Emily, Spencer, and Detective Walker at Barton's house.

"Thanks again." He smiled again as the call disconnected and he put the phone back in his pocket ,before heading back to Doctor Barton, Hotch, and Emily.

Hotch looked to him as he entered the room.

"She's emailing the files, we'll be able to print them out here," he told them.

"I could have the office send over the files," Barton offered.

"No trust us, this is faster," Emily told him, smirking slightly.

"We need to dig through your life and try to figure out why this is happening," Spencer told him as he took a seat on the couch.

"Let's start with the most recent cases first, something set this guy off and odds are its in your files," Emily explained, taking a seat on the couch next to Reid.

Hotch had gotten up and went to collect the files coming in through Barton's office, and to get an update from Rossi about the situation at the school.

Hotch returned with the stack of files and the update from the school: everything was running smoothly. They had talked to the principal and were keeping an eye on Jeffrey as he moved from class to class. The doors to the building had been locked and there would be an assisted release of the students at the end of the day.

The four of them unfortunately weren't getting too far with the case themselves. They had profiled the unsub to the best of their ability, but with only the note and no explanation for LC, there was only so far they could go.

Doctor Barton was starting to get agitated. He kept looking at the clock and got more frustrated as time passed and they didn't have any positive answers.

"Jeffrey is leaving school in five hours. There is no way we can get through all these patients in that time," the doctor mumbled out as he watched the profilers read through the patient files.

"Thankfully with Doctor Reid's impressive reading speed, we've managed to narrow down the cases," Hotch explained as he moved a stack of files to the increasing pile of others they'd decided didn't fit anything close to their small profile.

"And we still have a hundred left. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be callous, but when you work in the ER you don't remember names. You operate and you move on," Doctor Barton explained, sitting back in his chair and wiping a hand over his face.

"He's right. There's too many files here for us to profile in a short time," Hotch pointed out, sighing.

"Is there someone that regularly works the surgeries with, more than any others, that we might be able to talk to?" Spencer asked.

Doctor Barton was quiet for a few moments, obviously thinking over. "There's a nurse. Her name is Peyton Scott. She works my shift and in the OR with me more than others."

"Is she at home or?"

"I believe she's on her regular shift."

Hotch nodded and quickly took a glance at his watch before he turned to Spencer and Emily. "Emily, I want you to head to Saint Sebastian and talk to the nurse. Reid, you remain here with Doctor Barton, you'd be more helpful for reading through the cases than either of us. I'm going to head over to the school and meet with the others to help with the end of the day."

Emily and Spencer nodded in understanding. Emily and Hotch left quickly, leaving Spencer alone with Doctor Barton.

The man looked to the door before turning to Spencer. "The note doesn't say that he'll kill Jeffrey today, it says, 'If not today, tomorrow, or the next day'. Let's say he gets home safe. How long will you all be around to make sure he's ok?"

Spencer turned his gaze away from the doctor, thinking his words over carefully. He licked his lips slightly before responding. "Let's just get through today."

He ignored the disappointed look in the doctor's eyes and he reached forward, grabbing a few more case files. He cleared his throat slightly. "Did you-, did you separate the files? We know he's been killing Hispanic males as surrogates."

Barton nodded. "Yeah, uh, 82."

"And how many of those dates did you operate on somebody else?"

"75."

"Did any of those patients die on the table?"

"10, wait no. 11, yeah, 11."

Spencer nodded. "11 good, that's where we'll start. This whole thing is about choice. He's forcing you to play god with your son because the last time you had a choice, your decision devastated him," he explained.

"I'm not God, I'm a doctor. I just save people."

Spencer shook his head. "That doesn't matter to him right now. All that matters to him is that you had an alternative and you didn't take it. Now, how many of those surgeries involved patients under 20?"

Barton thought about it quickly. "6. A lot of them are gang-related shootings."

"Has a gang or family member ever threaten you?"

Barton shook his head. "Nothing that immediately stands out. I'm pretty sure something like that would."

"We're down to 6 dates where you operated on a hispanic male the same night a patient under the age of 20 died. I'm going to read a list of names and dates for you and I need you to tell me if anything you can remember."

Barton nodded.

"Alright, January 22nd was Tyler Hayes with multiple gunshot wounds. On February 13th, Brian Douglas was a hit and run victim with a lacerated aorta. March 15th, Devon Marks had a heroin overdose. Angela Harris, another car accident, single vehicle, bleeding into her brain."

"None of those are doing anything. Again, I'd remember if I had been threatened," he sighed. "I don't understand. The surgeries are hours apart meaning I never had to choose between patients. None of these would call for him to punish me for my choices."

"If you look at the note again," Spencer began, pulling it out of the case file he had sitting on the couch beside him. "Compare it to your charts. Sometimes the unsub will unconsciously mirror wording of situations."

Spencer bit his lip as he watched Doctor Barton read, thinking everything over. "Right after new years, there was a car accident and one of the victims was Hispanic."

"New year's."

Barton nodded and went to continue, but it looked like he couldn't continue the thought. Spencer acted quickly and searched through the patient records until he found one that matched the timing and profile.

"Here," he began, holding out the file for Barton to read. "On January 3rd there was a two-car pile up. You operated on a Hector Ledezma, but that was your only surgery that night."

"That's because I didn't operate on the boy." Spencer quickly realized what he meant, reading over the accident report, finding the name of the other patient in the wreck. He quickly pulled out his phone to call Garcia.

"Garcia, I need you to find a patient in the system named Jason Meyers."

"He was admitted on January 3rd, put on life support," she released a sympathetic whimper. "Oh no."

Spencer furrowed his brow. "What, what is it?"

"He was taken off the ventilator and declared legally dead 3 days ago," she told him. His eyebrows shot up at the information.

"That could be a stressor," he mumbled. ""Who's his father?" He asked.

"Patrick Meyers, age 45."

"Get a photo of him and send it to the others immediately, I think he's our unsub."

"Got it, 187. It's on a way."

Spencer went to put his phone in his pocket, but stopped when he saw Doctor Barton pulling on his jacket. "Where are you going?"

"The note says not to deviate away from my routine. I usually pick up Jeffrey on his days off," he explained.

Spencer nodded and stood up from the couch. "I'm coming with you," he said and turned to grab his bag. He stopped and sat down again when his phone rang, seeing that it was Emily. Holding up a finger to signal Barton to hold for a moment, he sat back down as he answered.

"Yeah?"

"I talked to Peyton Scott and when I mentioned 'LC', she mentioned that it stands for 'living children'. It's administrative. It's when they're afraid a patient's gonna go on life support and they don't have a DNR order," Emily explained.

Spencer remained quiet as he took in the information and everything finally seemed to piece together.

"Reid?" he heard Emily call from the other line.

He licked his lips before replying. "What if the unsub was trying to tell Dr. Barton that he is actually the target and that he's going to leave his son without a father?" Spencer didn't get the chance to hear her answer when he heard the front door open. "Barton!" He called out, quickly getting up from the couch and chasing after the doctor.

As he reached the front door, he heard "Doctor" called out and saw a man standing on the street, Doctor Barton standing on the pathway staring at the man.

Spencer ignored Emily calling him through the phone and watched as the man lifted his gun, aiming it towards Doctor Barton. Quickly predicting what was about to happen, Spencer pushed Doctor Barton out of the way the same time as Meyers pulled the trigger.

Spencer saw white as the two of them hit the ground. His phone fell a foot or two away and Emily's voice could be heard, ordering for her to answer him.

Spencer winced in pain, ignoring the intense throbbing on his left leg and propped himself up on his elbow, asking Barton to give him his gun quickly as the unsub moved towards them.

Taking it in his right hand, Spencer held the gun out, aiming it towards Meyers. "Your son was killed in a car accident," he said, trying to remain calm and ignore the intense pain in his knee.

"Stand up!" Meyers ordered, taking another step toward the two in the yard.

"I'm going to ask you again, I do not want to shoot you.  _Please_  drop the gun," he ordered.

Meyers face was red, tears streaming down his face. "Stand up, you coward."

"Mr. Meyers, listen to me," Spencer said, keeping his voice steady and strong, but calm as to not to anger the man anymore. "Alright, it's over. Doctor Barton did not kill your son." Meyers lowered his arm slowly, bringing it down to his side. "Your son was killed by a car and this is not what he would want, okay?" He hoped that he was getting through to the man. "So, drop the gun. Please."

Although he didn't show it, Spencer was relieved as he heard the sound of sirens grow closer. He didn't know how much longer he could ignore the pain, but luckily for him at the moment, adrenaline was on his side. He took deep breaths as he watched Meyers look around, unsure of what to do.

"Don't do it."

Meyers looked back at him. "I'm sorry," he muttered as he starting to raise him arm and aim his gun once again.

Spencer acted quickly and shot the man in the stomach before Meyers had the chance to fire. He watched as he fell to the ground and let out a pained sigh.

Doctor Barton quickly got up from behind Spencer and kneeled next to him, quickly trying to access the damage from the gunshot.

Spencer quickly shook his head and waved him off, gesturing with his head towards Meyers on the ground. "I'm fine, go to him," Spencer insisted. Doctor Barton stood up and made his way over to the other man. Spencer winced as he told Barton to kick the gun away.

"The medics are almost here, can you keep him stabilized?" He called out as the sirens grew closer.

"Yes, I think so."

He gritted his teeth in pain as he saw the police and ambulances pull up to the scene. "I need a backboard and a c-collar," Barton called out as a paramedic came towards him.

After Meyers was loaded into the ambulance, Barton made his way back over to Spencer, who was holding his hand over his knee.

"Let me see it," Barton said as he inspected the wound. "Looks like it went clean through."

Spencer ignored it, trying to keep his mind off the pain. "You might have saved his life."

He watched and bit his lip as he saw the team pull up to Barton's house a few minutes later. "Keep pressure on this, okay?"

Spencer gestured him towards Jeffrey. "I'm good, I'm fine. Go. Go to your son. I'm good. I'm fine. Go." He ordered and watched as the man walked over to his son and pulled him into a hug.

* * *

Derek and JJ were sitting on the stairs inside the school with Jeffrey as the SWAT team and LEO's escorted children to their rides and buses. Rossi and Hotch were standing near the front doors of the school, talking to Detective Walker.

When given the signal they, walked Jeffrey out to the assigned car escort, watching as Detective Walker and Rossi got in with them. JJ and Derek were making their way towards the SVU when they saw Hotch hang up the phone and turn towards them: his normally stoic expression was mixed with a hint of worry that immediately sent a weird feeling into Derek's gut.

"We need to hurry and get back to Barton's house," he said as he climbed into the driver's seat, Derek and JJ following him into the passenger and back seats.

"Why, what's happened?" JJ asked as she put on her seatbelt.

"There-" Hotch went to respond but the police radio cut him off. "I repeat, available cars to 120 Kensington Road in Mclean. There are shots fired, federal agent possibly down."

Through the rearview mirror, Derek could see JJ quickly pale and took out her phone. He turned to Hotch. "Federal agent down?" Derek asked. "But that would mean-"

Hotch turned on the car and began to drive, following closely behind the car that had Rossi and Jeffrey. "Emily called me after she made the report. She had been talking to Reid about the she had heard from the hospital before he didn't respond and there were gunshots."

Derek swallowed as he turned his gaze towards the front. He may not have known Spencer for that long ,but the kid was growing on him easily. Plus, he's a member of their team and they watch out for one another.

It felt like it took too long, but Derek couldn't ignore the worry as they pulled onto Doctor Barton's street and saw the group of police cars and ambulance in front of Barton's house. As they got closer, they could see an older male on a board being loaded into one of the ambulances.

"Jesus," he heard JJ mutter from the back seat as they pulled up in front and saw Spencer laying on the ground holding his knee. She was the first one out of the car and made her way towards him as Doctor Barton got up and went to Jeffrey. Derek and Aaron were close behind.

"Spence," she said, quickly kneeling down in front of him. "What happened, are you okay?"

Derek winced as he looked at the kid. His face was pale, his hair was sticking to his forehead from the amount of sweat there and his hands were wrapped tightly around his knee. The kid looked horrible.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Spencer muttered, biting his lip as he shivered slightly from the pain.

"Liar," Derek said as he reached forward and grabbed Spencer's gone. "We'll get you to a hospital."

Spencer shook his head and went to protest, but Hotch cut him off. "No, Reid. Doesn't matter what you say. I can see how much pain you're in." He turned and gestured for the medics to come over with a gurney. "It's an order."

Spencer sighed and nodded. "No narcotics," he mumbled.

Derek looked at him, confused. Was he really refusing pain medication for a gunshot wound? "Reid, did you hit your head-" Hotch cut him off.

"It's in your file, don't worry," Hotch told Reid, ignoring the questioning glance from Morgan. They both stepped aside as the medics came closer with a gurney. They lifted him onto it and strapped him in. JJ had grabbed his hand and was not planning on letting go.

Another wave of pain his Spencer and he instinctively squeezed JJ's hand, then she let out a tiny gasp. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, clenching his eyes shut.

JJ shook her head and began to run a hand through his hair. "Don't apologize Spence. Just count this as payback for when I brought you to your knees when I went into labor."

Spencer let out a heated laugh but it was quickly replaced with a low moan as the amount of pain continued to increase.

Surprising all of them, Derek reached forward and grabbed Spencer's hand. "No need to break JJ's hand, Pretty Boy. I'm pretty sure I can take it just fine," he said, smiling slightly.

JJ smiled too and continued to run through her hand through Spencer's hair. Derek couldn't understand how the kid was quiet and not complaining. He was especially surprised with the amount of strength that came from Spencer squeezing his hand.

He turned his head as he saw the medic walk up to Hotch and ask him a few questions. "Why aren't they asking Reid?" he asked, looking to JJ.

JJ bit her lip, looking to Spencer who was looking back at her with half-lidded eyes that were filled with pain. He shrugged slightly and she turned back to Derek. "It's a long story, but Hotch technically has his medical power of attorney."

Derek nodded and watched as Hotch came back over with the paramedics. "JJ, you and Morgan are going to ride to the hospital with him," he explained as the medics moved behind and in front of the gurney to move Spencer.

Derek raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I'm pretty sure he's not going to let go of your hand until he has to," JJ told him, smirking slightly.

Hotch let a small smirk and nodded to them both. "We're going to clean up here and we'll meet you there when we're done." Hotch then walked over to Rossi, who was talking to Doctor Barton and Detective Walker to get a report on what was going on.

Derek remained quiet the entire ambulance ride to Saint Sebastian. He was still shocked when Spencer refused to accept pain medication.

"I am comfortable and I don't want to take any narcotics."

He looked to JJ for an explanation, but she shook her head. There must be a story behind it, and it obviously wasn't hers to tell.

A few minute later they arrived at the hospital and Spencer was rushed into surgery. Emily had met them in the surgical waiting room after calling Garcia and updating her on what was happening.

"And now we wait."

* * *

It had been a couple hours later when a surgeon finally came out to the waiting room and announced that Spencer was being moved to recovery. Hotch, JJ and Morgan had remained. Rossi had stopped by, and Emily offered to go with him to finish the case up and see both Meyers and Doctor Barton.

It had took some convincing, but Derek had talked Garcia into visiting when he was actually awake, explaining that he was going to be out of it either way.

Hotch staying behind had made sense and JJ refused to leave. Derek didn't explain why he stuck around but neither of the other two said anything about it.

"Spencer Reid?" The doctor called and all three of them stood. The doctor quickly looked between the three of them and back to the file in his hands. "I have permission to speak to an Aaron Hotchner?"

Hotch stepped forward and held his hand out to the doctor. "That would be me," he said as the other man shook his hand.

"Hospital policy says I may only speak to those on record," he began, looking over at JJ and Derek.

Hotch sighed and pulled out his badge, showing it to the doctor whose eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You'll find that members of FBI overrule both hospital and HIPAA policy when it pertains to a case."

The doctor stared slightly before clearing his throat. "Doctor Reid was brought in here with a GSW to the knee-"

"Which he received while on a case, which means you're talking to the three of us."

The doctor sighed and nodded, turning away from them and gestured for them to follow. He led them to an empty conference room and waited until they were all seated.

"As already stated, Doctor Reid was brought in with a GSW to his left knee. He was lucky enough that the bullet missed his femur by a few centimeters, but unfortunately, it damaged the ligaments and tendon above and behind the kneecap."

"And what does that mean as far as recovery time?" Hotch asked.

"Luckily for him, after a few months of physical therapy and some time spent on crutches, he'll be able to recover full movement and usage of his knee," the doctor smiled to himself as he saw relief pass over the three agents' faces.

"And what will you be doing for pain management?" JJ asked. Derek perked up at the question, he'd been wondering about Spencer's refusal for pain killers.

"As stated in his file, we will refrain from giving opiates. For the surgery, he was placed under general anesthesia, and will be prescribed NSAIDs after he is released."

Derek was surprised and still confused. He had hurt his knee in college and knew to an extent of the pain that Reid must've been in and not wanting the strong pain killers just didn't make sense to him.

"Can we see him?" JJ asked, eyes hopeful.

The doctor nodded and smiled "Unfortunately, not even the strongest NSAIDs are gonna ward off the pain, so it would be good to have someone there when he wakes up if he's not already. He's in South Tower 5, room 518."

He stood, as did the other three, and he shook each of their hands in turn. "Doctor, I would like to speak with you about his discharge and recovery. JJ and Morgan, go on up. I'll call the rest of the team and update them on Reid before I meet you guys," Hotch said, looking to the doctor who nodded and then back to his two agents.

"See ya later, Hotch," Derek said as he walked out the door and gave the doctor a small wave before he and JJ made their way towards the elevators.

As they waited, Derek turned to JJ. "So, do you know why Reid's refusing the good stuff?" he asked.

JJ shook her head. "I do, but I can't tell you. He has his own reasons, and it's up to him if he wants to tell you. Don't press him on it though, please," she pleaded.

Derek looked at her and nodded after a few minutes. "Got it," he said and the two stepped into the elevator.

"Thanks."

* * *

The doctor had been right, Spencer had been in a lot of pain after he woke up from recovery, but thankfully he had distractions. JJ was there when she could be, along with Hotch, Derek, and Garcia. Emily and Rossi had visited after work the three days he was there.

The doctors were surprised with Spencer's progress. Most with his kind of injury would have required a week stay, but Spencer was out in three. He knew how to safely go up and down a set of stairs with his crutches and successfully managed to make it a distance without falling over. He would be prescribed a high dosage of ibuprofen and was recommended which physical therapist to visit in a month's time.

The biggest argument and problem that was faced was what he was to do once he was discharged. Hotch had offered, as he now had his own apartment since he and Haley had divorced and he had a guest room. JJ also offered. Spencer turned both of them down, thanking them both.

In the end, he agreed with what Derek had said. They're neighbors, and Derek can be there in seconds if there would be any kind of emergency.

And that's how they found themselves standing on the ground floor of their apartment building glaring at the 'Out of Order' sign on the front of the elevator stairs.

"Well, that's the one thing we overlooked," Spencer mumbled as he leaned on his crutches and looked over at Derek. "It's starting to seem elevators are against us."

"You'd think after five years, Gideon would finally get this damn thing fixed," Derek said as he wiped a hand over his head. "What's that law thing-"

"Murphy's Law, it's an epigram that is typically stated as anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. It's mostly used in humorous situations in pop culture to that effect-" Spencer cut himself off when he saw the look Derek was giving him. "Rambling again, I know, sorry."

Derek shook his head and smiled. "Don't worry kid. It just catches me off guard that you can rattle things off like that so easily."

Spencer grinned back. "So what do you expect we do?"

Derek shrugged. "There's an easy solution."

"And that is?"

"I could carry you."

Spencer's eyebrows shot up. "What? No! We live on the sixth floor, Morgan."

"Exactly. I hurt my knee in college, I know how difficult it is going up even one flight of stairs on crutches. You're not going to make it to the sixth floor without falling."

"Thanks for the confidence booster," Spencer murmured, looking down at the floor.

Derek sighed. "Seriously, Reid. It's either that or I wait for you to pass out from the pain that you'll be in from aggravating your knee that much."

"You can't carry my weight."

Derek snorted. "Kid, you're probably not that heavy. You look like a pipe cleaner with eyes."

"Hey! I'm not that thin!"

Derek shook his head and grinned. "Whatever you say, Pretty Boy. So, you going to let me carry you?"

Spencer looked from Derek to the stairs and back to Derek. He groaned. "One word about this to anybody, and you'll regret it."

"Sure I can't mention it to Garcia? She'll love to know that her stud muffin and junior g-man are getting along."

Spencer glared and Derek held his hands up, smirking. "Fine, fine. So, piggyback or fireman's carry?"

"Morgan!"

"Fine, got it." Derek helped Spencer maneuver himself and the crutches until Spencer was on Derek's back. Morgan groaned as he stood up and Reid couldn't help but laugh.

"See, you can't hold my weight."

Derek let out a grunt. "It's not that. You're all legs, man!"

"Maybe you should work out."

"Oh, you got jokes now?"

"Mhm."

Derek shook his head and looked up at the stairs. "Sorry to say it, Pretty Boy, but looks like I'm gonna have to carry you over the threshold," he said, smirking when he heard the groan emitted from Spencer.

Finally after twenty minutes of arguing and awkward stair climbing, the pair reached their floor. Derek helped Spencer stand on his good leg and lean against the wall so Derek could catch his breath.

"We can't do this every day," Spencer muttered as he rubbed his knee.

"We won't. You're on medical leave for at least a week. I think that will be enough time for us to make sure you're okay with the stairs?" Derek asked as his breathing slowed down and he looked over Spencer

"Yeah, sounds good," he mumbled and looked down the stairs.

"What's wrong?" Derek asked, confused.

"My crutches are still down there."

"...Damn it."

 


	7. Chapter 7

The first two days of his medical leave, Spencer found it easy to keep himself busy. He was able to begin his thesis paper with the things he and Derek had covered so far. After that, he would watch some TV, but there were only so many times you could watch 'Blink' and not have nightmares from it.

The third day found Spencer laying on his couch, staring up at the ceiling and trying to think of something to do. The team weren't taking any cases while he was on medical leave, but they would still call him for help on multiple consults. Today seemed to be a slow day, and he unfortunately was stuck with not moving at all and trying not to pass out from the pain in his knee.

Spencer found himself about to finally fall into what he hoped was a relaxed sleep, but his phone ringing next to him on the floor found him letting out a loud moan. He turned on his side and glared at the phone as if daring it to stop ringing. Sighing, he reached down and unlocked it. "What?" he practically growled.

"Well good morning, sunshine," Morgan's voice came through the speaker, sounding amused. "Hi, I'm good, thanks for asking."

Spencer crossed his arm over his eyes and sighed. "Can I help you?"

He heard Derek chuckle slightly before answering. "Just wondering if you'd like some company tonight?"

"What do you mean?"

"I figured we could work more on your project tonight, but I have another question about that."

"Yes?"

"Is it okay to bring Garcia in? Like you said, she'd make it a lot easier. Plus she's slightly angry that she hasn't seen you since you left the hospital."

Spencer laughed slighty, grinning. "Yeah, that sounds good. Door should be open when you get here."

"Later, Pretty Boy!"

* * *

"So, how's he been doing?" Garcia asked as she and Derek got to the sixth floor. Derek smiled as he pulled out his keys to find the spare that Spencer had given him in case of emergencies.

"Except for the amount of obvious pain he's been in and lying about? As good as he can be after getting shot," Derek explained as he unlocked the door and entered.

"This place is so... _Reid_ ," Penelope said, smiling as she set her purse down on the cabinet near the door.

"Hey, Reid? Where you at?" Derek called out in the apartment as he made his way to the kitchen to drop off the food that he and Garcia had picked up on their ride home.

"I found him!" he heard Penelope call from the living room, followed by a tired sounding groan.

"How are you feeling, 187?" Garcia asked as she down on the armrest of the couch closest to Spencer's feet.

Spencer stretched slightly before sitting up on the couch as much as he could without moving his knee, which was currently still in his brace and raised slightly on a small pile of pillows.

"Happy that I decided to wear pants," he mumbled slightly as he rubbed his eyes and looked up Garcia, smiling. "Other than that, I've had better days."

"Does it hurt?" She asked, glancing at the knee brace.

He shrugged. "It really only hurts when I think about it, which is pretty much all the time. I had Doctor Who to-"

Penelope grinned as she cut him off. "You like Doctor Who too?"

Spencer grinned in return. There weren't many people he'd met who had even heard of Doctor Who. "Have for years. I spent my free time in college watching the classic who. I was so happy when they rebooted it."

"Doesn't David Tennant make the best Doctor?" Penelope's smile grew as Spencer started to get excited.

"He's a fantastic Doctor. Definitely one of my favorites after Tom Baker. I actually just finished making the scarf."

"You made  _that_  scarf?" Penelope asked, definitely surprised.

Spencer nodded. "I saw the knitting pattern and decided to give a try."

"You and me need to hit up a convention then."

"What are you two talking about in here?" Derek asked as he walked into the room, carrying out a box of pizza and water bottles from the kitchen. He took a seat on the floor near the coffee table, Penelope moving herself down to sit next to him.

"Just some nerdy stuff you wouldn't understand," Garcia teased as she reached forwards and grabbed a piece of pizza, handing it to Reid before taking one for herself.

The three ate in a comfortable silence. After they were done, Penelope helped Morgan clean up a little as Spencer excused himself to the bathroom.

"My little plan worked," Garcia told Derek, smiling.

"What little plan?"

"Reid was talking about how he was in pain because that's all he could think about, so I waited until he gave me the tangent, and I quickly boarded on the tangent train to Doctor Who to keep his thoughts off his knee for a while."

Derek grinned. "You're a genius, Baby Girl."

"Word." The two of them made their way back to the living room and found Spencer sitting on the coffee table with his bad leg stretched out to the couch.

Derek raised his eyebrows. "Pretty Boy, wouldn't the couch be a little more comfortable?"

Spencer jumped slightly and looked up at them, pushing his glasses back up before shrugging. "It's more of a habit that comfort. In college I was somehow always the one who got the crappiest seat in the back of the room and since I was only 12, I had problems seeing over the other students. So, I ended up just sitting on the desks. I got weird looks for it, but it wasn't anything new."

Derek and Penelope shared a look and made a silent agreement to change the subject. Both of them could tell college and his childhood were touchy subjects for Reid.

"So, Derek says you two or working on a project and could use the Oracle of Knowledge?" Garcia asked Spencer as she sat down the couch, Derek following her.

Spencer smiled, then both he and Derek explained both Spencer's project and Derek's own personal project.

"I'd be more than happy to help!" she said as she stood up from the couch and went to the main hallway to grab her laptop bag.

"So, whose turn is it to look into the life of a former relationship?" Derek asked Spencer as Garcia walked back in the room and got her system set up.

"One quick question, Garcia. Is this legal?"

Penelope smirked. "Only if they catch me."

"Alright. Then, I say Morgan should go first this time."

"Who are we looking for, stud muffin?" Garcia asked, already prepared to type the name in.

Derek thought over his list before picking one. "Number 5, Agent Jordan Todd." He ignored the surprised look he received from Garcia as she began looking.

"Isn't she the agent that filled in for JJ as a liaison when she was on maternity leave?" Spencer asked.

Derek nodded. "The way her and I met was, at the least, interesting. We met in a coffee shop. I threw out a perfectly fine coffee to get in line behind her and talk to her because she was fine."

Garcia snorted at the comment, but kept smiling as Derek continued. "It was kind of awkward when JJ went around introducing her. After that though, we were paired on some things in a few cases, and then one night after a case in Georgia, we came back to my place and things went from there."

"So what happened after that?"

"I'm not exactly sure, since JJ came off maternity leave early, and she went back to counter terrorism," he explained with a shrug.

"Oh, she didn't go back to counter terrorism, my sweet," Penelope said, looking up from her computer.

Derek raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"She also lost the title of 'agent'. Says here she quit a few days before Christmas. Her police records say she's currently in rehab for a cocaine addiction after she had been arrested for possession," she explained.

"Wasn't that case with the 'Road Warrior' in mid-December?" Derek asked.

"I think so, why?"

"She was blaming herself for the guy murdering his family, that wasn't the only case that got to her either," Derek shrugged. "Guess that's another one off my list."

"How many left for you now?"

"17. What about you, Reid?"

Spencer licked his lips slightly and shrugged. "After crossing off Lila Archer, uh, about 5."

"Well, you're about to either find the one or make it 4."

* * *

Unfortunately after that night they weren't able to find much free time to continue on with the project. Between Spencer's physical therapy and the amount of paperwork that was building up at work, both Reid and Morgan were too exhausted.

They were hoping things would get better now that Spencer had returned to work from his medical leave, and he just really wanted to get everything back to normal again. That was until the first case came through and Spencer was being forced to stay behind. It probably wouldn't be that bad if he hadn't tried to fool Hotch.

" _You told me you were cleared to fly, you lied."_

" _I am a doctor, so, technically, I didn't lie."_

" _What was it then?"_

" _Uh, a second opinion."_

So, now while the rest of the team was in Long Island working the case, Spencer was held up in Garcia's office working with her.

"Are you sure you don't wanna work a little on your list?" Penelope had asked him as the two sat in her office. He was sitting on top of the desk she had brought in for him, which made it easier to stretch his leg out.

Spencer shook his head. "I just...have a lot on my mind right now. I was hoping this case could be a distraction," he trailed off and shrugged.

"Honey, you know I'm here if you wanna talk," Garcia told him as she stood up and walked over to him.

He looked up at her and gave her a small smile. "I know. Just, there's a few things I need to get straight in my own head before it probably would make sense to other people."

She smiled in return as she kissed the ends of two fingers on her left hand and placed them on his forehead, laughing.

"Your cheeks are turning pink, 187," she laughed as he blushed harder.

"They're turning lightish-red," he retorted, trying but failing to hide back a grin.

"Whatever you say," Penelope said as she smirked and sat back down in her chair.

They had worked for over 48 hours and solved the case. Hotch had ordered both of them to go home and rest up, knowing that the jet wouldn't arrive until late in the night.

"Thanks for the ride," Spencer said as Garcia helped him climb out from her car and handed him his crutches.

"You sure you don't want me to help you upstairs?" Garcia asked, sounding slightly worried.

Spencer shook his head and gave her a smile. "I should be fine on my own. Morgan worked it out with me and I should be good. Go home and enjoy the rest of your night."

Penelope sighed and closed the car door behind him. She climbed into the driver's seat and waited until he was inside before she pulled away.

Spencer stood at the bottom of the staircase, staring up at the stairs. While he hadn't completely lied to Garcia, he kind of wished he wasn't so stubborn and had accepted her the first week, Derek and Spencer had gotten sort of used to Derek carrying him up the stairs, but slowly worked toward just making sure Spencer was alright going up and down on the stairs with his crutches. He was completely comfortable going up and down on the crutches, but that's because he knew Derek was going to be there in case anything idea of him doing this on his own for the first time did make him slightly nervous.

"At least it's going up," he mumbled. He took a deep breath and let it out as he secured his bag over his shoulder, then balanced himself out on the crutches.

Spencer climbed each stair slowly and carefully, taking a break on every other landing to catch his breath. After twenty minutes, Spencer let out a small cheer in relief as he finally reached the sixth floor. He made his way over to his door and placed his crutches against the wall, putting all his weight into his right leg.

As he reached into his bags to grab the key to his apartment, there was a creak in the floor behind him. When he heard another one, his hand slowly moved to his service piece.

"You're not going to need that, Spencer," a familiar voice told him.

"Why did I ever give him a key," Spencer muttered to himself as dropped his hands to his side and clenched his teeth. "What the hell are you doing here, Rawson?" he asked as he turned himself carefully to look at the other agent.

Mick Rawson from SSA Cooper's team stood there in front of Morgan's door, arms crossed over his chest and a small smirk on his face.

The British man let out a dark chuckle. "I heard through the grapevine that you were a little gimpy these days," he said as he stepped closer to Spencer.

"That still doesn't answer my question."

"What? Can't I come and visit an old teammate. Well, you're more than a teammate, aren't you?"

Spencer counted to five, taking deep breaths in between each number. "You made it very clear that you didn't want to have anything to do with me."

The smirk fell from Rawson's face as he frowned and shrugged. "The decision wasn't that hard. Seems to be the same to for you. You wrapped Simms around your finger quickly enough." His voice filled with venom.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Isn't the anniversary coming up?"

Spencer furrowed his brow. "What anniversary?"

Rawson laughed and shook his head. "And here I thought you were the genius with the photographic memory."

"Eidetic."

"That's irrelevant. Did the drug-store heroin really mess with you that much?"

"Get the hell out of here, Rawson," Spencer's voice was filled with anger as he glared at the other man.

"I thought we could revisit what we were," he said, stepping up to Spencer and wrapping an arm around the taller man's waist, pulling the two of them together.

A low, pain-filled groan came from Spencer as he was forced to put weight on his bad knee. He attempted to pull away as he had height over Rawson, but only aggravated it further.

"Aren't you enjoying this, Spence? It brings back a lot of memories. Could even get you some more of the good stuff to make you feel better," Rawson said, continuing his firm hold on Spencer.

"I said leave, Rawson," Spencer grunted.

"Why?"

"Do NOT give me an excuse to shoot you," a third voice called out, the words echoing down the staircase.

That was enough for Rawson to let go, shoving Spencer slightly causing him to back up into his door. Spencer slid to the ground and tried taking deep breaths as he tried to fight an oncoming panic attack. After a few moments, he turned his head and his eyes shot up in surprise.

"Morgan? The jet landed already?" Spencer asked, his voice a weird cocktail of fear, confusion, and relief.

Derek didn't say anything as he climbed the rest of the stairs and stopped when he was only an inch away from Rawson.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, voice thick with anger.

Rawson's mouth opened and closed a few times but no words came out. He stared at Derek, trying to find something to say.

"I'm-jus-" he stumbled over his words as he looked to the floor.

"Get your ass out of here, Rawson," Morgan ordered. Rawson remained quiet as he quickly stepped to the right of Morgan and ran down the stairs.

Derek's glare followed him down until he heard the front door of the apartments slam. He took a deep breath and let out it before quickly turning around to look at Spencer, whose face was clenched up in pain as he massaged his knee.

"Are you okay, Reid?" Morgan asked, kneeling down next to him.

Spencer licked his lips and opened his eyes. Derek could see the pain in his eyes, and he knew that Spencer knew there was no point in lying.

"It's basically bumped. The brace luckily kept it from any amount of damage. The throbbing is from the weight I put on it. I just need to get inside and put an ice pack on it or something," he explained, his voice cracking in a few places.

Derek nodded as he took the keys from Spencer, unlocking and opening the door to Spencer's the crutches, he lent them against the door in the hallway and turned the lights on before, once again, kneeling beside Spencer.

"I'm gonna have to carry you again, Pretty Boy."

Spencer nodded and mumbled out "I'm used to it by now." Derek smiled slightly as he picked Spencer us as carefully as he could, walking into the apartment and helping him lay down on the couch.

"Do you want any of the pain killers?" Derek asked as Spencer placed his leg on the pile of pillows near the end of the couch. Walking back into the living room, he placed the ice pack on Spencer's knee and then took a seat on the armrest closest to Spencer's feet.

Spencer shook his head. "No, I'll be fine. Just need to rest. Could you get my bag though? It's still in the hallway, I think."

Derek nodded and went to get the bag. He walked into the living room and placed it on the ground next to the couch.

"Do you mind me asking what that was about?" Derek asked.

Spencer bit his lip and thought it over for a few minutes. "Do we have the day off tomorrow?"

Derek nodded. "Barring any cases, Hotch said we have a three day weekend. Why?" he asked confused.

Spencer sighed. "We can work on the project tomorrow."

"What does that-" Derek cut himself off as he realized what Spencer was implying. He looked to Spencer who, seeing he understood, nodded.

"Then I'll see you tomorrow, kid. Lemme know if you need anything!"

Spencer let out a pained sigh and reached into his bag, grabbing his phone. He promised JJ he would call every night to let her know what happened. He wasn't going to skip a night just because of everything tonight with Rawson. He knew a worried and angry JJ was nothing he wanted to witness. Again.

After sending the message, he realized he had another one, but from a number he didn't recognize. Curiosity got the better of him and he opened it. He paled as he read over the message and he knew who had sent it.

' _This isn't over.'_

* * *

Derek stood in his kitchen, nursing a mug of coffee in his hands. He hadn't slept well during the night: everything that happened in those few moments between Reid and Rawson wouldn't leave his thoughts alone. Even for knowing the kid for a short time, he'd gotten to know him a little better, and at least thought they were now more friends than just colleagues. The fear that he saw come off from Spencer was enough to rattle him.

His eyes kept darting to the clock above the stove, trying to figure out the right time to go over to Spencer's and talk. That had been another thing he couldn't stop thinking about. Even though he really wanted to know what had happened between Spencer and Mick Rawson, but at the same time, he didn't want to know how it got to be that bad.

He was pulled from his thoughts when his phone started ringing from the counter behind him. Glancing at the caller ID, he unlocked the phone. "Hey, Baby Girl," he greeted her, trying to keep the tone of his voice neutral.

"Good morning, my adonis, how are you this morning?" Penelope's voice came through the speaker and Derek found himself hesitating slightly.

Before he had a chance to say anything, Garcia spoke again. "What's wrong?"

"How did-"

"Derek, this shouldn't be a surprise anymore. I may not be a profiler, but I am a mama bear. Now, let it out."

Derek shook his head, smiling slightly. "There's not much at the moment that I can tell you, sweetness, but there's somethings that I'm not too clear on myself."

"Who then?"

Derek sighed and really hoped Reid didn't hate him for this. "It's Reid."

"What's wrong? Is he okay? Did he hurt his knee again? Whose credit score do I need to murder?"

"Garcia. Baby Girl," Derek tried to call her name out but she was rambling so fast he wasn't sure if she could even hear him. "Penelope!" He yelled into the phone, and she got quiet. "You going to let me talk now?" He teased. "All I know is when I came home last night, he was arguing with another agent."

"Give me his-"

"No. Not happening, Baby girl."

"But-"

"Not  _yet._ Not until I know more myself."

"Can you tell me anything?" she asked, a small whine could be heard in her voice. Derek sighed, trying to figure out the right way to word what he wanted to say without giving too much away.

"They were having an argument about something. There was some manhandling and Reid hurt his knee, but I made sure the jerk left and I helped Reid into his apartment. I'm hoping he wasn't lying about the pain."

"Call me as soon as you know anything?"

Derek smiled. "Of course. Talk to you later, mama!" He hung up and put his phone in his pocket, the deposited his now cold coffee into the sink.

A few moments later, he was standing in front of Spencer's door, trying to figure out what to do. He knew that Reid had said he was going to talk about it, he just didn't want to pressure him into something he didn't feel completely comfortable talking about.

Taking a deep breath, Derek went to knock on the door, but stopped when heard voices coming from inside. One he recognized instantly as Spencer's and the other was definitely Rawson.

Derek opened the door as quietly as he could, thankful that it was already open. He closed it just as quietly, but by now, Rawson's voice had gotten louder. He stepped lightly and moved closer to the living room, following the sound of the arguing voices.

"Oh come on, Reid, it's the anniversary, I'm sure you want to celebrate."

"Why can't you just leave me alone. It's been three years," he heard Spencer's voice argue in return. "Why are you even here?"

"You know you miss me."

Derek shook his head and stepped out into the room, one hand close to his gun. He just hoped he didn't have to use it.

"I thought we went over this last night, Rawson," Derek growled as he stepped into the room.

Rawson and Spencer were both standing, Derek guessing that Rawson had forced him into it. Derek glared when he saw the bruises on Spencer's face and pulled out his gun, aiming it at Rawson, who stepped away from Spencer, holding his hands up.

"I told you not to give me an excuse to shoot you," Derek said, stepping a little closer to the other agent, who took a step back in fear.

"You don't want to do that," Rawson spat out, but Derek could see the obvious fear that the British man was feeling.

"You need to get the hell out of here and leave Reid alone."

Rawson laughed and turned slightly towards Spencer, who was sitting back on the couch, breathing heavily. "Jump from team-to-team to find a new fuck have you?" As Rawson turned back to Derek, he didn't have time to react before he saw Derek's hand come towards his face. With a single punch, Rawson fell to the ground unconscious.

He placed his gun back in its holster and stared at the man on the floor before turning towards Spencer. "At least this is a good reason to go back on suspension," he mumbled as he made his ways towards Spencer, who was shaking his head.

"We can actually report him. He broke in," Spencer explained, gritting his teeth slightly from the pain. "He may have a key to the building, but I changed my door locks two years ago."

Derek nodded and grabbed his phone from his pocket. "After the police get here, we'll go over to my apartment and talk."

Spencer understood it wasn't a question and nodded. Derek nodded in return and walked into the kitchen to call the police.

* * *

Two hours later, the police had come and gone, arresting Mick Rawson in the process. After the officers had cleared them both and didn't have any further questions, Derek helped Spencer over to his own apartment. Spencer sat on the couch, his left leg spread across the length of it. His brace was on the floor and there was a heating pad around his knee.

"I swear if this pushes my physical therapy back more, I'm going to end up going UnSub," Spencer mumbled as he massaged the thigh above his knee.

Derek laughed slightly earning a glare from Spencer. "What? You're the one using 'unsub' as a verb," he pointed out.

Spencer shrugged and relaxed into the pillows behind his back. "I'm allowed a break from genius once in a while."

There was an awkward silence between the two as Derek sat on the recliner adjacent to the couch, watching Spencer and trying to figure out what to say.

"I know you have questions," Spencer said, turning himself slightly so he was facing more towards Derek.

Derek gave a hesitant nod. "I don't want to push you into anything you don't want to talk about."

Spencer looked down at his lap before looking over at Derek and biting his lip. "Emotionally I just want it to go away forever, like nothing ever happened." He sighed. "Logically though, I know it would probably be better to talk to someone about it." He gave Derek a small smile. "Ask away."

"I, I honestly don't know where to start," Derek confessed.

"Well, what's the first thing that comes to mind?"

Derek sighed. "Mick Rawson." He knew at this point with Spencer, there was no reason to step lightly. They probably know a little more about each other than others do right now. It would be easier to be straight forward with everything.

Spencer nodded, figuring that would be the first thing that Derek asked. "Let's start out with that I'm now down to 4 people left on my list."

"So you're-" Spencer cut Derek off. "If I were to use labels then my sexual identity would be bisexual."

Derek nodded. "Doesn't bug me at all, man, just wondering," he said honestly.

Spencer nodded before continuing. "We really didn't have a real relationship, the only reason he's on my list is because there are so few people I've had relationships with." He licked his lips slightly.

"The only thing that I would call the relationship was friends-with-benefits, well, more like colleague-with-benefits, since he didn't really want to associate with me in public outside of work of the bedroom." He ran his hand through his hair and shrugged. "After a year or two, he's the one who called it off. I didn't have any real connection, so it doesn't bother me as much."

Derek didn't say anything at first, the nervousness and fear were obvious, Derek could tell that from Spencer's body language alone. He thought for a moment before his next question. "Last night, he mentioned something about Simms?"

"Well, that will then now cut my list down to three," he smiled slightly as he watched Derek's eyes widen. "I never really paid attention to the fraternization rules in the handbook."

Derek laughed at that and shrugged. "I'm no stranger to ignoring those either, kid."

"Really?" Spencer asked, raising an eyebrow.

Derek smirked. "Those are different stories for a different day."

Spencer smiled and nodded. "Three years ago, a little over a month after Rawson called everything off, Jonathan Simms and I had a casual thing going. After everything he had gone through prior to joining the BAU, itkept him a little paranoid. He was good to me though," Spencer trailed off. Derek could see that this conversation was getting a little harder for Spencer.

"We don't need to keep talking about this if you don't want to," he told him.

Spencer shook his head in response. "This will be a lot better for me, personally, if I get everything out."

Derek nodded. "So, what happened between you and Simms?" He watches as Reid's mouth open and closed a few times, but no words came out. They sat there in silence for a minutes before Spencer finally spoke.

"What do you know of a case in Georgia?" he asked, his voice cracking slightly.

Derek raised an eyebrow in confusion. "There's one or two I know about, why?"

Spencer shook his head. "Which ones?"

"There was one going around the floor a few years ago about an agent that was kidnapped on a case by the unsub," Derek said, trying to recall any other information about the case. "What does this have-"

Spencer cut him off once again. "A few years ago, a team was called down to a case in Georgia where there was an unsub who, at first, was thought to be a team who were using religion to justify their reason for killing," he began, his voice flat. "They called in the murders themselves and left behind a piece of the bible, then a few hours later, the videos of the murder were uploaded online."

"I remember those, Garcia almost crashed her own system to keep herself from seeing them. We were supposed to be called on that case, but we were in Boston at the time," Derek explained. He still wasn't clear why Spencer was telling him about this, but figured he'd keep that question to himself for now.

"And that's why Cooper's team got sent down," Spencer whispered. "The unsub would record the murders using the victim's webcam after that he was able to hack from his own computer. While we were at the station, we brought the computer from one of the victim's homes to see if Lynch would've been able to see what was happening but before he got the chance, he sent a message that said 'The armies of satan shall not prevail'."

Derek bit his lip as he watched a shiver pass through Spencer's body as he repeated the message. This was definitely one of those more confidential cases that get rumored about, where people only know the beginning and the end, but nothing about the middle or the details.

"There was another murder a little after that. Cooper had sent Beth, Rawson, and LaSalle as he, Simms and I remained at the station. There was another video posted not too long after, with a woman tied up and three dogs barking in the background." Spencer licked his lips and swallowed slightly before continuing. "One of the local officers had remembered a man who called in a 911 call about a trio of dogs, and Cooper said it might be beneficial to check the call out, so, he sent Simms and I to interview a man named Tobias Hankel."

Spencer went on to continue that when they arrived at the house, Hankel was there but he was reluctant to open the door. Hankel had told him his father didn't like him inviting strangers in and he turned the two agents away. Both Reid and Simms had an odd feeling about the man and decided to just take a look around. They walked around the side of the house and stopped when they saw a window into the house and there was a huge setup of computer monitors.

Derek went still as he realized where the story was heading.

"Hankel was part of the team?" he asked.

"Not exactly," Spencer replied, his voice shaking slightly.

"What do you mean?"

Spencer cleared his throat. "Tobias Hankel was the team. He was suffering from a multiple personality disorder. The profile led to what was, most likely, a psychotic break."

"What happened next?" Derek was nervous and slightly worried to know where Spencer's story was heading.

"Hankel had spotted us by the window and made his way to the front door as Simms and I ran to the back. Simms said we should split up to hide. He ran towards the barn that was on the property and I made my way to the cornfield." Derek was shocked when he heard the anger in Spencer's voice. Spencer started shaking slightly as he continued on with the story. Derek had to bite his tongue from saying anything as Spencer went on to explain how Hankel had caught him in the cornfield and knocked him out, then how he woke up handcuffed to a chair in a shed that smelled of rotten fish.

Derek couldn't believed what he had been hearing: how this could've happened to a kid like Spencer.

"There's probably another question that this story is going to answer for you," Spencer whispered. "JJ told me you had questions about as to why I didn't want the pain medications after I got shot."

Derek remained silent, not really sure of how to respond to that. He was hoping that Reid wasn't angry at him for asking JJ and not him.

"I'm not mad," Spencer told him. "I do respect you that you didn't press JJ for the answer. You're also going to be one of the few people who know why now."

Derek had to blink back a few tears as Spencer went on to explain what had happened to him in that shed. How he was beaten for stating he wasn't a sinner. How he was forced to choose between four people to save. How his team were watching almost everything from a computer feed and had no idea how to find him or help him. His heart broke when Spencer explained how Hankel had shot him up with Dilaudid, telling him it would make everything easier. How it caused him to think back to memories of his childhood that he didn't want to revisit. How he was given so much that he overdosed and went into cardiac arrest.

He had been clinically dead for 5 minutes before Hankel had came back into the room and resuscitated him using CPR.

Spencer explained how he was forced into a game of Russian roulette with a revolver, each chamber empty as he was told to pick a member of the team to die. Spencer had chosen Rawson and had misquoted the Bible on purple, called him a narcissist, using specific words because his team was watching. They were sitting there while Spencer was being tortured, after being abducted and drugged. Rawson didn't catch on to the clue, he was too busy being angry that he had been the one Reid had chosen to understand what had been going on.

"Cooper told me Simms was the one that figured it out. He knew I was using an argument that Rawson and I had many times, more than few in front of Simms and he caught on. They finally found me in the graveyard digging my own grave. I shot Tobias and saved myself." Spencer's voiced cracked at the last word, and he didn't even attempt to hide the tears.

Derek stood up from the chair and went over to the couch, kneeling on the floor in front of Spencer.

"Reid, hey, Reid," Derek whispered, trying to get the genius to look at him. "Kid, look at me. Spencer!"

Derek saying his first name had definitely caught his attention and he turned towards, biting his lip to prevent himself from sobbing.

"Is this what Rawson meant by 'anniversary'?" Derek asked, even though he knew the answer already.

Spencer gave him a slight nod before he broke down. Derek couldn't stand by and watch the kid do this to himself. Carefully he reached his arms around the genius, pulling the younger man to his chest.

"It's okay, Pretty Boy, I've got you."

 


	8. Chapter 8

The two had remained that way for a little while, neither one minding that it was something they hadn't done before, but at the same time, it was probably something they both needed.

Spencer pulled back from the embrace, which gave Derek his own signal that it was okay to let go.

"I'm sorry," Spencer whispered as he wiped the tears from his face with his sleeve and ran a hand through his hair.

Derek shook his head. "You've got nothing to apologize for," he told him.

Spencer wiped his eyes again and coughed slightly to clear his throat. "That's not all of it." He told him. Derek sighed and nodded: he had figured as much.

"Hold on for a second," Derek said to Spencer as he stood up and went to his kitchen. He returned with two bottles of water and an ice pack. He handed a bottle to Spencer, who accepted it and thanked him before taking a few sips. Derek set his on the coffee table and carefully removed the heating pad from Spencer's knee before replacing it with the ice pack and securing it with an ace bandage, before taking a seat on the end of the couch.

Spencer took another sip of his water before looking over at Derek. "I need you to promise me something."

"Anything," Derek replied instantly.

Spencer sighed. "I just, what I'm about to tell you, only a few people know: Simms, Rawson and Cooper know, but so do Hotch and JJ," he explained.

Derek nodded in understanding. Something must've happened after the case that caused it to be a secret. "I promise."

Spencer gave him a small smile. "I trust you either way, but this is the one thing I'm always paranoid with. Before leaving the graveyard, I had taken two of the vials of Dilaudid from Tobias. I was an addict, and I still hate myself everyday for it," Spencer avoided looking at Derek, not wanting to really see how the other agent was reacting to the news. "It got pretty bad for a few months. Cooper found out, and to make sure nothing got worse, he assigned Rawson and Simms to help me detox."

Spencer sighed before glancing up at Derek, surprised to see the look on his face: it wasn't shame, it looked a lot like he was proud.

"You refuse narcotics to make sure you don't become an addict again," Derek deduced. Spencer nodded as confirmation. "That takes incredible strength, and I'm really impressed," Derek said to him, smiling slightly as he saw Spencer's face. Spencer smiled in return and pulled something out of the pocket of the shorts he was wearing, then held it out to Derek.

Derek grabbed it and examined it, smiling as he realized what it was. "Congratulations, kid," he said as he handed the sobriety chip back to Spencer.

"Thanks," Spencer said before taking another sip of water. "I know that seemed like an incredible tangent train, but it does sort of serves as background to why Simms is also crossed off my list."

"Oh?" Derek asked.

"The weekend after my first case back after the detox, Simms had driven me home, but he wanted to talk to me before I got out," Spencer started and took a deep breath as he tried to calm himself down. "He said he didn't think we had the connection we used to have, that we should just go back to being friends. Both of us were just too 'damaged'."

Derek could hear the malice in Spencer's voice. He really wished the kid could catch a break: from everything he has learned in the few months of actually knowing Reid, it seemed like fate had handed him a bad card.

"Screw him, he's an asshole." Derek told him.

"I already did that," Spencer joked lightly. "Thank you for listening, Derek, especially today. It really, really means a lot."

Derek grinned when he heard Spencer call him by his first name.

"I'll be there as long as you need me, Spencer."

* * *

The rest of the BAU team could see that Morgan and Reid had gotten closer. It had been a few days after that day, and the two were acting like they've known each other for years instead of months. They'd take their lunch breaks together, Spencer even stopped complaining when Derek would slip him his files.

It was two weeks later when Spencer had Derek drop him off at his doctor's office, telling him to go to work and that he would either catch the train or a cab. Derek was reluctant at first, but Spencer was just as stubborn and wouldn't even enter the building until he had seen Derek drive away.

Once at work, Derek kept looking at the clock every few minutes. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he just wanted to make sure Spencer got to work alright. With everything that he had learned recently about Spencer, he understood why JJ discussed the idea of Spencer being a small magnet for trouble.

"Where's Reid?" Prentiss asked as she walked into the bullpen, looking at Spencer's empty desk as she took a seat at her own.

"Doctors appointment for his leg," Derek told her as he skimmed through the file on his desk for the umpteenth time. He knew he wasn't going to get anything done, but he still needed to look busy.

"You're worried about him, aren't you?" Emily asked, slightly amused.

Derek turned in his chair and lifted an eyebrow in mock confusion. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

Emily let out a small snort. "Bull, Morgan. You're in a room filled with profilers. This has to be the worst place to try to lie to anyone in."

Derek scowled at her. "We do have a habit of throwing the moratorium of profiling one another out the window," he grumbled out. "So, tell me. Give me a mini profile of myself," he told her, smiling slightly so she knew he was joking around.

She grinned in return. "Well, ever since we had that day off after the Long Island case, it seems like you guys have been doing everything together. You take your lunch breaks together, you go home together-"

Derek cut her off. "The second one doesn't mean anything," he pointed out. "We're neighbors, he lives right across the hall from me, it would be stupid to come to work separately. And second of all, the kid is on crutches. Gotta make sure he's not gonna fall or anything going up those stairs."

"That's one thing you don't need to worry about anymore," Emily told him.

"What do you mean?" he asked and turned towards her a little more. That's when he realized Emily wasn't looking at him, but behind him. He followed her gaze and turned himself in his chair until he faced the glass doors to the BAU offices.

Spencer was walking into the BAU without crutches, he still had his brace on and he was using a cane, but it definitely was great to not see the crutches.

"Hey guys," he mumbled somewhat awkwardly as he passed their desks and took a seat at his own.

"So, I'm guessing the appointment went well," Emily said, smiling and nodding her head towards the cane.

Spencer grinned and nodded in return. "Finally done with those damn crutches."

"Now I don't need to worry about you falling down on your ass when taking those stairs, Pretty Boy," Morgan teased as he stood up from his desk and walked over to Spencer's, taking a seat at the end of it.

Spencer rolled his eyes and ignored him, grabbing a small stack of files from his inbox.

"So," Derek began, "if we don't have a case today, I was wondering if you wanted to work on your project tonight? Garcia is free too."

Spencer thought it over for a few moments before nodding and smiling. "It's your turn to share what might be an embarrassing relationship story."

Derek grinned and ruffled Spencer's hair. "At least I'm not the one who ended up on a tabloid cover."

"What?!" Emily asked. "Spencer Reid, you were on the cover of a tabloid and didn't tell us?"

Derek couldn't help himself from laughing as he saw Spencer's face turn red as he tried to work over the right response. "Oh, come on kid. How many people can say they were rumored to be the 'mystery man' in Lila Archer's life?"

Spencer glared at Derek as Emily scoffed. "Are you serious? Lila Archer?"

Spencer looked from Emily to Derek then back to Emily before he shrugged and leaned back in his chair. "I'm not the only one in this room that shared a night with Lila. I'm just the one who got recognition for it."

Emily at first looked at Spencer, slightly confused. She then took a look at Morgan who was glaring at Spencer, then everything clicked and she laughed. "I've got to tell Garcia," she said as she stood up from her desk. She winked at both of them before disappearing into the hallway toward Garcia's office.

Derek groaned and looked at Spencer, who looked at him in return with a sweet smile upon his face. "This is your fault you know."

Spencer laughed lightly and shook his head. "You're the one who brought it up," he pointed out. He laughed again when Derek released another groan.

He glared at Spencer as he stood up. "And my list is now down to 16." And he went back to his desk, grinning as he sat down and saw the confused look on Reid's face.

Spencer turned his head slightly and let out a small gasp. "You and Emily?"

"And since you're the one who told her about Lila Archer, I don't have to give you the story behind it."

Spencer groaned and crossed his arms over his chest. "That's not fair!"

Derek laughed slightly. "How about we both figure one out and each share a story tonight?"

Spencer thought it over a moment before nodding. "Tonight should be interesting," he mumbled to himself as he turned away from Morgan and got back to work.

* * *

Spencer was making his way to his couch later that night. Derek had dropped him off and had gone to grab both dinner and Garcia. He was relieved to finally be rid of those crutches, and found that it was much easier to get up the stairs. He grabbed his bag and pulled out the notebook he had been using to track the progress of the project and looked at the remaining names on his list. While he was incredibly happy that he was able to cross his old team members off the list, he was sort of nervous to explain the reasons for the others.

Putting it aside, he sighed and went about making himself comfortable. While his knee didn't hurt as much as it had in the past few weeks, there were still sharp twinges here and there that would automatically grab his attention.

"Thank god I decided on shorts," he mumbled to himself as he straightened out his leg and placed an icepack on his knee, securing it with an ace bandage. Now he was left by himself, waiting for Derek and Garcia to show up. He relaxed back into the couch and closed his eyes, letting himself get comfortable for a few moments.

"Spill," was Garcia's first word as she climbed into Derek's car. Derek raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Spill what?"

Penelope let out an exasperated sigh. "Did you find out anymore about my baby genius?"

"Does he know about that nickname?"

"Irrelevant!"

Derek smiled slightly and shook his head. "I know some things, baby girl, but it's not my place to tell you."

"A name?"

"No."

"Initials?"

"No."

"Not even a date!" He could tell that Penelope was getting aggravated and he knew she just wanted to make sure everything was okay with Reid, but he didn't want to lose his trust.

"I'm gonna tell you what JJ told me, mama. He has his reasons, it's not my story to tell. It's his."

Garcia sighed and Derek smiled. "Maybe we can get an amusing college story out of Pretty Boy tonight," he told her and grinned as she perked up at the idea.

Not too long later, Derek was letting himself and Garcia into Spencer's apartment, confused to find the place still slightly dark.

"Reid! Where you at?" Derek called out. Feeling a weird sense of deja vu, Derek walked into the kitchen and put the Thai food on the counter.

He walked into the living room to find Penelope sitting on the couch next to Spencer, who looked like he just woke up.

"Why are you always asleep when I come over, 187?" Garcia teased.

"Don't mean to," Spencer mumbled as he sat up a little more and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

Derek grinned and shook his head. "Don't worry, Pretty Boy. It's not like we're going to draw on your face with sharpie or anything."

Spencer looked at him, confused. "Why would you do that?"

"It's what happens when someone falls asleep at a party," Derek explained, slightly amused with Spencer's confusion.

"But why?"

Derek went to explain some more but was cut off by a giggling Garcia. "Leave him alone, brown sugar. Go get the food, I wanna hear more juicy secrets about your sex lives." He grinned and laughed when he saw Spencer sit straight up and turn red. "Don't worry kid, you're going first."

"Fantastic," Spencer groaned out. "Could I bother you for another ice pack from the freezer while you're in there?" He asked, glancing hopefully at Derek.

Morgan nodded. "No problem!" A few minutes later, Derek returned to the living room with drinks, the food, and handed an icepack to Spencer.

"How's the knee doing, anyway?" Garcia asked as she started pulling the food containers out of the bags, handing them off to Derek and Spencer.

Spencer shrugged as he unwound the ace bandage and replaced the ice pack. "Better than it has been. I think since its the first day with the cane, it's gonna be slightly irritated, but I'll eventually get used to it."

"JJ's right, you do have chicken legs," Penelope whispered as she watched Spencer rewrapping the ace bandage around his knee. In response, there was a loud snort from Derek followed by a yelp from Reid.

He then remembered he was wearing shorts and blushed before letting his head fall forward, groaning. "I really don't want to know why you and JJ were discussing me, do I?"

There was a slight hum from Penelope and Spencer groaned again.

They fell into a comfortable silence as they ate their food and caught up on a few things, seeing as Garcia hadn't really found the time to visit Spencer in the past few days.

"When are you free from the ball and chain?" Penelope asked, nodding towards Spencer's brace and cane.

"Both my doctor and physical therapist were not happy with the fact that I had managed to aggravate my knee while still being on crutches. So unfortunately, I'm in the brace for another week, and the cane is around for another 3," Spencer explained as he finished off the rest of his food.

Spencer froze slightly and caught Derek's eye when he realized what he had just said.

Fortunately, Garcia didn't notice and nodded. "Are you clear to fly?" She asked.

Spencer let out a relieved sigh before nodding. "Yeah, no fake notes this time."

Derek and Garcia laughed at that, Spencer grinning in response.

"So, whose dirty past do I get to dig into first?" Penelope grinned as she reached into her bag and pulled out her computer.

Spencer and Derek immediately looked at each other.

"Not me!" They said in unison.

"It's your turn!"

"No! It's yours!"

Garcia couldn't stop giggling watching the two of them going back and forth.

"I told you about Emily earlier!"

"Without any back story! You brought up Lila Archer!"

"I told you you were going first already!"

Spencer groaned. "Fine," he whined and sat back on the couch, trying to figure out which person to talk about.

"How many are you down to?" Garcia asked both of them, finally getting her giggling under control.

"After I told Reid about Prentiss, I went over my list a little more and crossed out a few that I didn't even want to think about talking to again," Derek said with a shrug. "I'm at 10."

"3," Spencer replied, noticing the confused look on Garcia's face. "There were two guys on the list that I got rid of and probably shouldn't have put on there in the first place," he explained quickly, stumbling over a few of the words.

Penelope hummed and accepted that as the answer. She knew there was probably a bigger reason for why they had been removed, but as Derek requested, she wasn't going to press the subject.

"So, who are we looking into now?" She asked, getting ready to type the name in.

Spencer looked like he was slightly reluctant to give the name but he let out a small sigh. "Ethan Haywood."

Garcia's eyes shot up at the name and she turned towards Spencer.

"Baby girl?" Derek was confused.

"Where did you go to school?"

Spencer blinked and licked his lips. "For which degree?"

"Any."

Spencer swallowed. "Uh, Georgetown, MIT, CalTech-"

"CalTech! When did you go to CalTech?"

Spencer looked over at Derek who shrugged in response, obviously not too sure of what was going on either.

"1995 to 1998. What does this-"

Penelope cut him off as she quickly typed something into computer. "I KNEW there was a reason you looked and sounded familiar," she mumbled as screens kept popping up and disappearing as she continued to type.

A few moments later a picture popped up on her computer and Garcia grinned. "Take a look at this," she said turning the computer so Spencer and Derek could see.

Derek was still confused as to why he was looking at this picture, as it didn't seem to have anything to do with Reid's story. Spencer, however, was surprised to see something so familiar on the screen.

He quickly turned towards the end table behind him, opening the drawer and pulling out a stack of pictures. Flipping through them, he seemed to have found the one he wanted and placed the rest back in the drawer.

"My question for you is how you knew I went with a club from CalTech to San Diego Comic Con, all of us dressed as Marvel characters," Spencer said as he flipped the picture around and showed it to to his friends.

Penelope grinned as she pointed to the picture. "See the one dressed as Rescue, standing between the ones dressed as War Machine and Iron Man?"

Spencer automatically knew where to look, but Derek wasn't too sure. "Who's Rescue?" He asked as Garcia pointed out the right character.

"In the Earth-616 comics, she first appeared in Tales of Suspense #45-"

Garcia cut Reid off with a slight chuckle. "Reid, honey, it might just be easier to stick to the movies."

Spencer frowned at the thought, but let out a defeated sigh and turned to Morgan. "You know the character that Gwyneth Paltrow plays in the Iron Man movies?" He waited for Derek to nod before continuing. "She's Rescue in the comics. She started as Tony Stark's assistant and ended up getting a suit built for her."

"Still doesn't explain why it's relevant."

"See the two back here dressed as Captain America and Bucky?" Derek nodded, easily recognizing the Captain America shield. Spencer went to say something, but Garcia beat him to it.

"Our little genius here is dressed as Bucky while Ethan Haywood is dressed as Cap! And I'm-"

"The one dressed as Rescue! How could I forget?" Spencer ran a hand through his hair, feeling embarrassed.

Penelope giggled. "You hardly saw my face that weekend and I didn't return for the fall semester."

Spencer and Derek both gave her a small smile and Derek thankfully thought of a way to change the mood.

"So, Pretty Boy," Derek waited until Spencer was looking to him. "Tell us some more about your Captain."

Spencer bit his lip as his eyes scanned over the photo in his hands. The memories of his and Ethan's relationship quickly rose to the surface after spending so much time trying to keep them away.

"It wasn't the best relationship, I take it?" Garcia asked.

Spencer ducked his head, trying to fight back the tears. He shook his head. "Not in the end no," he choked out. "Everything else before that was great though," he looked up at both of them.

"You don't have to tell us if you don't want to," Derek told him, but Spencer shook his head.

"To put it simply, Ethan was the love of my life," Spencer began as he placed the photo back in the end table. "That photo was actually taken before our final year at CalTech."

"Did he come with you to MIT?" Derek asked.

"Well, he came with me to Boston. Our years at CalTech were before we started our romantic relationship. We ended up as roommates since we were both enrolled at a young age. We had a lot in common and he became my best friend," he explained, pausing to take a deep breath.

"So, you went to MIT.." Garcia began, hoping to get Spencer to continue.

"And he tried a few semesters at Berklee. After I graduated from MIT, he admitted that he only applied so that we wouldn't have to be separated. The night after my graduation, well, he was my first," he said, blushing slightly at the admission.

For some reason, Derek got an odd feeling in his stomach hearing that, but ignored it as he waited for Reid to continue.

"We both applied to Georgetown, we met JJ, and we all became friends. Ever since that first night.." Spencer trailed off slightly, looking down at his hands. What he couldn't see was that Garcia and Derek were hanging on every word he said, both for different reasons.

"I loved him. I never thought I could love someone as much as him," he said, finally looking up. "We were even set to join the Academy together."

"That's where everything took a different turn?" Derek asked.

Spencer nodded. "All of the sudden he just, I don't know how to describe it," he said, his voice slightly more quiet, "changed, I guess."

"How do you mean?"

Spencer fidgeted with his hands and shrugged. "He didn't like the amount of rules, the restrictions, and everything else that came with joining the Bureau," he explained, voice cracking.

Derek raised an eyebrow in surprise. "He didn't know all of that before joining?"

Spencer shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "I honestly don't know what changed him. Sure, he always thought of himself a little more carefree in life compared to others, but I don't know what caused such an about-face."

He quickly wiped away the tears, turning red again. "I'm sorry," he whispered, taking the tissue that Garcia had handed to him.

"Don't you dare apologize, sweetie," Garcia ordered as she moved to sit next to Spencer, softly rubbing his back. "There is nothing to be sorry for. You don't need to tell us anything else."

"She's right, Reid. You don't have to do anything you don't want to, kid."

Spencer shook his head. "It wouldn't make any sense to stop now," he insisted. He took another deep breath and licked his lips. "We had a fight the night before we were going to begin at the Academy. He was begging me to quit, just disappear now, and I told him I couldn't, that this was something I needed to do."

The feeling in Derek's stomach returned, a mix of emotions as Spencer continued with the story.

"He fell asleep on the couch and I fell asleep in the bed after agreeing to talk about in the morning. When the morning came-" Spencer stumbled over his words slightly. "When the morning came, he wasn't there. No note or anything."

"He just left?" Derek asked, the anger quickly rising.

Spencer nodded. "I had no idea where he had gone or what happened."

"You said had, I'm guessing you found out?" Garcia asked.

"New Orleans," Spencer said, letting out a weak laugh. "JJ and I were down there visiting Will a few years ago, we went to this bar, and there he was. On stage performing. He left me to be a jazz musician."

Spencer rubbed his knee as they fell into a somewhat awkward silence. Spencer's mind playing over everything, what Ethan's sudden disappearance had done to him.

"His loss, 187," Garcia said, kissing Spencer on the cheek. "Want me to destroy his credit? Put some points on his license?"

Both Derek and Garcia smiled when Spencer released a genuine laugh and shook his head. "I appreciate the thought, but no, not yet anyway."

"Just give me the word and it's done," she told him, winking.

Derek smiled and glanced at the clock, not noticing how late it had gotten. "Looks like we both should head out, Pretty Boy."

"Superheroes can't fight evil on little sleep," Garcia commented as she helped Derek clean up and collected her things.

"Thank you both," Spencer said as he walked them to the door, leaning on his cane.

"No need to thank us, sugar, more than happy to help," Garcia said, hugging him quickly.

"What she said. See you tomorrow Reid," Derek said and shut the door behind them, leaving Spencer with a smile as he made his way to bed.

 


	9. Chapter 9

The team had been on their way back from a case in Austin, Texas a few weeks later when Derek had brought up the project again.

Their unsub had been forcing his victims into morphine overdoses. With their profile and leads, they were able to identify Jermaine Finkelstein, a man who had suffered some sort of violent episode and murdered his former bandmates, a jazz ensemble he had been kicked out of when they learnt of his heroin addiction. When Garcia had sent them the list of locations where they could find their potential unsub, Morgan and Reid had been the closest to the old club that the band had performed in.

When they arrived, they saw the unsubs vehicle, both instantly knowing that they didn't have time to wait. After quickly contacting Hotch and calling for back-up, the two made their way to the front door. Silently opening the door, Spencer and Derek were welcomed by the sounds of trumpets and trombones mixed with saxophones. The house lights were off and only the lights to the back of stage were open, but their unsub wasn't there.

"Finkelstein!" Derek called out as he and Reid rounded the bar, guns out, watching for some kind of movement other than their own. "FBI! We just want a little talk."

When the doors to the kitchen swung, Derek nodded in the direction, signaling Spencer to go first. Spencer nodded and slowly made his way towards the door. Derek stood back as he waited for Spencer to clear the room. Pushing the door open with his shoulder, Spencer looked around the kitchen. The lights were on, but there wasn't any sign of another person being in the room. Before Spencer had the chance to clear, he was suddenly overcome with pain coming from the back of his head. As he clenched his eyes closed, he slid down the door, letting out a groan as he hit the floor.

"Reid!" Morgan called out as he quickly made his way over, but stopped when he saw Finkelstein standing just past Reid, a gun trained towards Spencer's head in one hand, a music stand in the other.

"You need me in this band," Finkelstein growled out. "You would be nothing without me!"

Before Derek could respond, a gunshot had rang out, echoing around the club. As his gaze quickly jumped to Spencer, he was relieved to see though while most likely concussed, there was no blood anywhere on the younger agent.

Morgan then looked to Finkelstein who had dropped both his gun and the music stand before he fell to the ground. Rossi was standing behind him, smoke emitting from the barrel of his gun.

"It's clear!" Rossi called in his radio as Derek moved forward and knelt down next to Spencer.

"Can these things stop happening," Spencer mumbled as he held a hand against his head.

"JJ wasn't kidding about the trouble magnet," Derek teased, smiling at the glare he got from Spencer.

That had been a few hours ago, and they were now on their way back to Quantico. Spencer didn't have a concussion and was just expected to have an intense headache for a few days, instructed to keep the spot iced for a few hours. Derek and Spencer were sitting on the couch, Spencer holding an ice pack against his head, getting it changed every 15 minutes thanks to Derek.

"Morgan! I'm not an invalid, I can get up and get the ice myself," Spencer had growled as Derek changed it for the third time.

"Fine, fine. I'm done. Wallow in pain, your majesty," Derek teased lightly as he snorted in Spencer's direction.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes before Spencer spoke up. "It's your turn to share a story you know."

Derek turned towards him and raised an eyebrow. "After the Tamara Barnes story, I'm pretty sure its your turn."

Spencer shook his head, wincing slightly and glaring at Derek when he saw the smirk on his face. "Considering I only have one more left, I'm pretty sure it's your turn. Plus? I'm injured. Therefore, your turn."

Derek's eyebrows shot up in surprise when he saw the smirk on Spencer's face and thought it over before nodding. "Fine, just not on the plane."

"Deal." Spencer smiled slightly before leaning back against the couch, his head resting on his rolled up jacket, closing his eyes and trying to get a little sleep. Derek soon followed.

The jet landed an hour later. After the others had piled off, Rossi and Morgan were the only ones left with a sleeping Reid.

"Thanks for taking that shot," Derek had said as Rossi made his way to the front of the cabin. "I was-"

Rossi cut him off with a raised hand and smiled. "I understand, Morgan, no need to say anything. Just make sure the kid gets home okay?" and he made his way off the jet.

Derek smiled as he turned to Reid and shook his shoulder. "Pretty Boy, wake up."

"Do I have to," Spencer moaned, sitting up slightly. As he pulled the melted ice pack away from his head, he frowned slightly as he felt the water dripping down his face. "Damn it," he muttered, wiping it away with his sleeve.

Morgan bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from laughing and shook his head. "Kid come on," and grabbed both his and Spencer's go bags.

"Morgan I can-"

"Don't care, Reid," Derek said smirking and walking off the jet, leaving a growling Spencer to follow.

* * *

Their drive home was silent. They had already agreed on pizza and had picked it up on their way home. As they got to the top of the stairs, they both made a silent agreement to go to Derek's apartment.

After grabbing drinks and food, they sat down on the couch and sighed, happy to be home from another case.

"So, who's next in the black book of Derek Morgan?" Spencer had asked after he finished helping Derek clean up. Derek had only agreed to help him out when Spencer agreed to take extra strength Tylenol.

"It's not much of an exciting story," Derek admitted as he sat down next to Spencer.

"Well?"

"Elle." Derek said simply, smiling at the reaction he got from Spencer.

"You weren't kidding on the fraternization rules, were you?" Spencer mumbled out, taking a sip of water.

Derek shrugged. "It wasn't that much more of a relationship than friends with benefits."

"What ended it?"

Derek thought it over for a few minutes. Elle's departure still sat slightly wrong with him, wishing that he could've tried more to talk to her.

"Do you know anything about the Fisher King case?"

Spencer made a slight face as he tried to recall if he had read about it. "That's the one where she got shot right?" Spencer winced after he realized how blunt that had been.

"Yeah," Derek responded, letting out a long sigh. "We had gone to Jamaica for our AL: I know a guy who manages a hotel down there and everything. We were enjoying ourselves, happy to be away from the FBI. Then, the night before we were set to come back, she had been arrested because there was a trail of blood leading to her room."

Neither said anything, Spencer instantly knowing that Derek didn't want to continue the story.

"So, how many you got left now?" he asked a few minutes later, trying to break the awkward silence.

Derek thought it over as he took a sip of his water. "4."

"Hope they're good, I've only got one left."

Derek smiled slightly, knowing he was trying to get him distracted from Elle. "Did I tell you about the detective in Miami..."

They were still sitting there a few hours later, Derek telling his tale of all the girls come and gone. After he finished the tale of Julia the barista, he looked over at Spencer who seemed to be zoning out. He leaned over and poked the the other man in the leg, causing him to jump.

"What?" Spencer asked, wincing slightly as he ran a hand over his head.

"You okay?" Derek asked.

Spencer nodded. "Yeah, just thinking," he said, giving him a reassuring smile.

"Aren't you always?" Derek teased slightly.

Spencer laughed lightly in response and shook his head, getting up from the couch. "I'm gonna head home, just a little tired," he muttered, walking straight past Derek, grabbing his bags and walked out the door.

"Night," Derek called out, slightly confused. Frowning, he made his way to bed, playing it off that Spencer's head hurt and he just wanted to sleep. "Yeah, that's it," he mumbled and fell asleep.

* * *

The following weekend, JJ and Spencer were sitting around The Knot, a wedding cake bakery, as they sampled different cakes.

"This is definitely the best part of planning a wedding," JJ mumbled as she took a bite of red velvet cake.

Spencer hummed slightly in agreement as he took a bite of the chocolate cake sitting in front of him.

"Are you alright?" JJ asked, not bothering to wait for an answer as she held the back of her hand against Spencer's forehead.

Spencer pushed her hand away and sent her a small glare. "I'm fine, I'm not sick."

JJ raised an eyebrow. "You're not sick, but you're lying."

"How do you know?"

"Big sisters don't need to be profilers," JJ teased lightly, stealing a piece of the chocolate cake for herself.

Spencer sent her a look of interest and sat up slightly in his chair. "Proceed," he said, gesturing her to continue.

"You're obviously tired, which might be from the lack of sleep you're getting because of that music stand beating you took," she began.

"Wasn't a beating," Spencer mumbled.

"What's really the trigger is how little cakes you've tried," she continued as if he hadn't said anything.

"What has that got to do with anything?" he asked, cutting her off. .

"Spence," she said.

"What?" he asked, his voice cracking slightly.

"It's obvious that you have a closer relationship with sugar than you do with most people, now spill. What's got you in a funk?" she asked as she moved her chair closer to him so they wouldn't be overheard.

Spencer sighed and shook his head. "It's Morgan..."

"What did he do now? Do I need to call Garcia?"

"Jayje, no. Calm down. Derek didn't do anything.." Spencer trailed off and ran a hand through his hair, wincing as it went over the slight bump that the music stand had left behind.

JJ's eyebrows shot up at the mention of Morgan's first name. "So it's Derek now, huh?"

Spencer bit his lip and looked over at her. "I think I like him."

"You said the same thing about Austin-"

"This is different," he snapped.

JJ sent him a sympathetic look and reached forward, taking one of his hands in her own. "Oh, Spence. You mean?"

Spencer nodded, not needing to hear his name to know who she was referencing to. "Unfortunately, as things usually are for me, there's little to no reciprocation."

"You guys spend a lot of time together, how can you-"

"That's for my project," he said as he pulled his hands out of hers and played with his watch. "Plus, I've listened through 19 stories of his previous relationships. Not once has he ever mentioned a male." He shook his head and stood up.

"What are you doing?" JJ asked looking up at him, confused.

"My head hurts, I'm gonna go home and take a nap," he said. "I'm sorry, I'll call you later." He then quickly made his way out of the shop, reaching in his pocket to find his ticket for the metro.

JJ didn't follow after him, knowing that he needed the time alone to think. Sighing, she reached into her bag and pulled out her phone. "Hey, Pen? Could you..."

* * *

Spencer was standing outside his apartment, searching through his messenger bag for his keys when he heard Derek's door open from behind him. He internally groaned.

"Everything okay over there, Reid?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, I'm good," Spencer replied quickly as he finally pulled his keys out and unlocked the door.

"You sure you're okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine - just a bit of a headache," Spencer managed to grumble out as he pushed the door open and stepped inside.

"Kid, I think you need a distraction," Derek said as he followed Spencer and ignored the annoyed glare that Spencer was shooting him.

"What do you mean?"

"You've been acting strange since the other night."

"I thought there was a moratorium on inter-team profiling," Spencer snapped as he took a seat on the couch.

"This isn't profiling, kid," Derek said, taking a seat next to him. "You seemed stressed, and that definitely isn't helping your head."

"What do you suggest I do then?" Spencer asked as he turned towards Derek.

"When's your thesis due?"

"Beginning of the month."

"That's in three days," Derek pointed out. "Is that why you're so stressed?"

Spencer raised an eyebrow. "Why would that be stressing me out?"

"Well, we've been through my entire list and I have yet to hear the last one of yours."

"That has absolutely nothing to do with me finishing the actual thesis. It's done, I've already handed it in," Spencer admitted. Noticing the confused glance that Derek was sending him, he shrugged. "Rather it be in then us get called off on a case and I get points deducted for missing the due date."

"You still need to share your last story."

"Why?" Spencer groaned out. "The thesis is done, the project is done."

"It's only fair! I told you all mine, now you need to finish yours."

Spencer ran a hand over his face and sighed. "You're not going to leave me do alone until I do, right?"

Derek grinned. "See, I knew you were a genius."

"Fine," Spencer grumbled and sat up more after he ran a hand through his hair. "A year or so ago, we were investigating a case in Atlanta where an unsub had been using his skills as a pick-up artist to flirt with and lure in his potential victims," Spencer began. "Most of them were in clubs, so we went to them and spoke to the locals, passing around the sketch that a witness has provided."

"You? In a club?" Derek said, obviously trying to hold back a laugh.

Spencer rolled his eyes and nodded. "I definitely didn't enjoy it. Anyway, I was obviously having difficulty getting them to take my card so they could call me if they saw anything. Simms had advised using something that I was good at or made me feel like an expert."

"Don't tell me you tried to pick up a girl using math."

Spencer glared slightly and shook his head. "No, magic."

Derek raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You know magic?"

Spencer nodded before he continued. "I went up to one of the bartenders, showed her a few tricks, managed to get her interest. She asked me what to do if she saw anything. I told her to call us and began to walk away-"

"But-"

"Damn it, Morgan, let me actually finish," Spencer snapped. "Before I stepped away, she called out and told me that she didn't have my number. I told her it was behind the barrette in her hair. She pulled it out and she grinned at me."

"Nice," Derek said, nodding in approval.

"She was actually almost killed by the unsub: she was trying to call me so we were able to get her location," he explained. "After the case, we kept in contact and eventually had this long-distance relationship going on. Every few weeks, pending cases, she would come here or I would go there. Everything was going really well, especially considering it was my first real relationship after Ethan, Simms, and Rawson."

"Then what happened? It doesn't take a profiler to see it went in a bad direction."

Spencer bit his lip. "It was a month after we had officially started whatever you want to call the thing we had," he began and started to play with his hands. "She was here for the weekend, we drank a little and things suddenly moved to the bedroom. It wasn't until she was already stripping off my clothes when I told her I didn't want to sleep together."

"What happened?"

"She didn't give me a chance to give her a reason. Between the buzz she had from the alcohol and the anger she was projecting, she left and I never heard from her again. I tried calling to see if she'd let me explain, but she must've changed her number or something."

"I'm sorry, man," Derek said hesitantly, unsure of what to say.

Spencer shrugged. "Don't be. It was my own fault that it happened. I probably should've said something earlier on in the relationship about the whole intercourse issue."

"What is your reasoning behind that?"

Spencer ran a hand through his hair and looked at Derek. "Between Ethan leaving then everything that happened in Georgia and Rawson, I made a promise to myself that the next person I would sleep with be the one I marry."

Derek's eyes widened with surprise. "Impressive. Sort of a way to control your number like I've been."

Spencer gave him a small smile. "So, now that we've come to the end, any of the past 19 woman be the one to take the title of Mrs. Derek Morgan?"

Derek thought it over and shook his head. "I think I'm going to be a 20 because there's not a single one of those women that I would ever consider getting back together with."

"Not even Emily?"

Derek shook his head. "Nah, I respect her too much as a friend to turn back into friends with benefits."

Spencer nodded. "Definitely changed the outcome of my thesis. Doesn't matter the number of people you slept with or if you think you've been with too many people to fall in love. No matter what you do, you're waiting for the one."

"So, are there any possible partners for Dr. Reid in mind?" Derek asked.

Spencer was slightly surprised from the question and blushed slightly. Derek noticed and grinned. "Anyone I know?"

Spencer immediately shook his head. "No, I'm pretty sure he doesn't even swing that way," he said, his voice quiet and small. He looked down to his lap and pulled on the sleeves of his cardigan slightly.

Derek frowned and reached forward, placing a hand on Reid's knee to get his attention. "Have you asked him?"

Spencer bit his lip and shook his head. "I've talked to him multiple times and it's always been 'this girl' or 'that girl', so," Spencer sighed.

"Forget him then, Reid, no need to pine after someone. It's not fair to you."

Spencer quickly looked down as he felt his eyes begin to brim with tears and bit his cheek to hold back the sob that wanted to escape.

"Maybe you have the right idea," Derek mumbled a few minutes later. He had remained silent, noticing that Spencer needed some time to gather himself together.

"What do you mean?" Spencer asked, voice cracking slightly.

"Maybe I don't need a girl, maybe I should look for the right man," Derek said, giving a small smile to Spencer's surprised face. He ignored the red rimmed eyes of the genius, knowing that Spencer didn't want to bring any attention to it. "None of my relationships with the few men I've had were worth remembering."

Spencer remained silent as he tried to absorb this information, storing it in his mind so he could manage a single thought and managed to reply. "So-"

He was interrupted by both his and Derek's phones going off. He internally groaned and pulled his phone out as Derek did the same.

After reading the text message, Derek sighed and looked at Spencer. "Meet me with with your go-bag downstairs?"

Spencer nodded and stood with Derek as the other man made his way out of the apartment. After his front door closed, Spencer went to his bedroom and sat down on the bed, trying to get his emotions together, knowing this wasn't something he wanted to talk about until after the case.

"He may like men, but doesn't mean he'll like me that way," Spencer said to himself as he grabbed his go-bag and messenger bag, making his way out of his apartment. Taking a few more deep breaths as he descended the stairs, he hid away the thoughts of him and Derek being together in the back of his memory warehouse and made his way to Derek's car.

 


	10. Chapter 10

The case had been long and difficult: one that would hang on the minds for a little longer than other cases do. They had spent a week in Missoula, Montana tracking down a serial rapist. All victims had been females in their mid 20's and the body count was high: 14 girls had been raped and murdered before they were able to track down Jordan Burns.

The jet ride had been silent, everyone keeping to themselves. As Derek tried to lose himself in the music, he couldn't help but glance over at Spencer, who was sitting in the corner staring out of one of the windows. Cases like these are the ones that always worried Morgan. How did Reid, the kid with an eidetic memory, make it through these without going crazy?

After they had landed, Derek didn't even need to offer Spencer a ride home, the younger man had just automatically followed Derek to his car. The drive home was silent.

As Derek parked, he thought for a moment and looked over to Spencer. "Do you want to come over for a drink?" he asked.

Spencer looked at him, slightly confused, and thought it over. "I don't really drink," he said.

"I think we all need a little something after this case," Derek told him. He didn't want to leave the kid alone at the moment: with the way he had been acting lately, he wanted to make sure everything was alright.

Spencer shrugged and nodded. He followed Derek out of the car, silently trailing behind him as they climbed the stairs. "I'm just gonna drop my stuff off," Spencer said as they reached the top floor. "I'll be over in a minute." Derek nodded and Spencer disappeared into his apartment.

Derek opened his door, leaving it open as he dropped his go bag behind the couch and made his way to the refrigerator, pulling two beers out. As he made his way back towards the couch, Reid had walked in and closed the door behind him. Derek held the beer out for him and Spencer took it wordlessly. Using his elbow, he twisted the cap off and placed it on the endtable before taking a huge sip.

Derek watched him, slightly surprised as they both took a seat down on the couch. "Didn't take you much for a beer drinker," Derek said as he took a swig of his own.

Spencer shrugged as he took another sip. "Sometimes you've got to allow yourself a little escape, especially after cases like these," he admitted.

Derek nodded. The two sat there in silence, somewhat comfortable in each other's presence. Derek noted that Spencer did seem more relaxed, but that he could probably attribute to the fact that they were slightly buzzed.

Looking over, he also saw that the other man was half asleep. He sighed and stood up, holding his hand out to Spencer. "C'mon, Pretty Boy."

Spencer looked up at him with a cocked eyebrow. "Where are we going?" He slurred slightly as he let Derek grab his hand and pull him up.

"Bed," Derek replied as he wrapped an arm around Spencer's waist, the man swaying slightly and looking ready to fall back over.

"The couch is fine," Spencer mumbled as he tried to push away from Derek, but the older man just tightened his hold around Spencer's waist. "Morgan, c'mon. I live across the hall."

Derek ignored him as he guided the younger man to his bed, gently pushing him onto the bed. Spencer didn't fight as he gave in and almost fell asleep before his head hit the pillow. Derek shook his head and climbed in on the other side, both of them lying on top of the blankets. Derek remained silent as he felt Spencer roll over and cuddle into his side. He smiled as he wrapped an arm around Spencer and let himself fall asleep.

* * *

Spencer was the first one to wake up the next morning. The first thing that registered was that he had a headache and he groaned as he rolled over in bed, well, at least tried to. The next thing to register was that there was an arm around him, not a strong grip, but enough where he realized he was spooned up against another body. Forcing his eyes to open, he froze when he was able to take everything in. He wasn't in his apartment: he was in Morgan's. Which meant he was in Morgan's bed and he was cuddled up next to "Morgan," he whispered audibly. He could feel himself blush as he tried to figure out how to get out of this.

Before he even had the chance to think of a solution, he held his breath as he felt Derek start to shift and wake up. The hold that Derek had on him lessened, but not much.

"Reid?" Derek asked as he opened his eyes and turned towards Spencer.

"What happened last night?" Spencer asked quickly.

Derek removed his arm from Spencer and watched as the thinner man moved towards the other side of the bed, his usual pale face red, looking slightly confused.

"What do you mean?" Derek asked, finally sitting up.

"What happened last night?" Spencer repeated slowly. "Why am I in your bed?"

Derek stared at him, trying to rack his memory for thoughts from the previous night. "Reid, we-"

Spencer stood up, abruptly cutting Derek off. "Did something happen? I can't remember, why can't I remember?" he mumbled as he ran a hand through his hair.

Derek could see his hand shaking. "Reid, listen-" Spencer had started to pace, not even looking towards Derek. "Spencer!"

At the sound of his first name, Spencer stopped and turned towards Derek. Anything Derek was going to say to him remained unsaid as he looked at Spencer, eyes rimmed red and tears falling down his cheeks. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry if I forced you into anything I know you didn't want this, and I'm just going to go," Spencer then quickly turned and ran out of the apartment.

Derek didn't chase after him, knowing he wasn't going to help, now knowing that he was the guy Spencer was talking about before the case. He ran a hand over his head and sighed. "I need to fix this."

* * *

It would've been easier for Derek to fix it if he could actually see Spencer in person. After he ran off, Derek had taken some time to let Reid collect himself, giving Derek some time to think over everything he wanted to say to him. Knocking on Spencer's door a few hours later, Derek was only slightly surprised that there wasn't an answer, figuring Spencer wasn't home yet. So he went back to his own apartment, hoping to catch Spencer a few hours later. He didn't expect it to turn into a routine for two days. Originally, he had figured that Spencer was ignoring him. At the end of the second day, Derek had gave in and grabbed the key Spencer had given him after he'd been shot.

Walking into the apartment, Derek was definitely surprised to see that it didn't even seem like Spencer had returned at all. His go-bag was gone, which began to worry Derek.

Pulling out his phone, he quickly called Garcia. "Derek Morgan you better have a good reason for calling me."

Derek was surprised by the hostility in her tone. "Mama, believe me, I do. Do you know where Reid is?"

"And why exactly do you want to know?"

Derek sighed. "I need to know. Please, Penelope."

"He's at JJ's. Heartbroken and hopefully distracted by helping her finish up everything for her wedding. Now, tell me why you're looking for him."

Derek cursed slightly when he remembered that JJ's wedding was only two days away. They all had the time off, and the last case had ended just in time. "I screwed up," he admitted, running a hand over his head. "I really did."

Penelope sighed. "I knew that already. I had the hardest time calming Reid down," she told him. "He called JJ and was saying how he made a mistake and didn't want you to be mad at him, but didn't know what to say. I have no idea what's going on, Derek, what the hell happened between you two?"

"Do we need to do this over the phone?"

"I'll be there in 10," and the phone clicked. Derek sighed and made his way back to his apartment. He sat by the buzzer, lost in thought. A few minutes later, Penelope had arrived, and he couldn't have been more thankful when he opened the door and she shoved the coffee into his hand.

"Thank you," he muttered before downing half of it. Garcia nodded and gently pushed him to the couch, sitting down beside him.

"Now, tell me what happened between you and Reid."

Derek took a deep breath before he began to explain. He told her about the conversation they had before the case, and everything that had happened that night. As Derek finished explaining, he was looking at his lap.

He jumped slightly when he felt Garcia's hand on his knee. "Honey, I think you're in love with him," she said, giving him a small smile.

Derek looked at her for a moment and then nodded. She squealed, causing him to wince slightly. "Woman, can you not do that please!"

"I'm sorry but it's just taken you guys so long," she said, emphasizing the last word.

Derek looked at her, confused. "What do you mean?"

She raised an eyebrow in response. "I'm not called the oracle for nothing, I am all seeing. It's been a long time you two have been in love, you're just so stupid, neither of you realized it."

"Does anyone else know?"

"JJ. Reid had talked to her and came clean, and she called me. I was hoping to find a way for you two to talk, but the case came in the way."

"I haven't felt like this for anyone before," he whispered.

Garcia looked over at him with a smile. "JJ told me she hasn't seen Reid this happy since he was with Ethan."

Derek looked at her with shock before smiling slightly. "Okay, mama. How do I fix this?"

Garcia grinned and leaned in, happy to help get the two boys together.

* * *

Two days later, Derek walked into Rossi's mansion, smiling as he saw the set-up. The wedding had always planned to be small: the team plus some members from both JJ and Will's families. He saw Emily enter from the other side of the room and smiled as she made her way over to him. "You look beautiful," he said, kissing her on the cheek.

"Someone's in a good mood," she teased, giving him a hug.

He smiled in response. "Have you seen Reid?"

Emily nodded. "He's with Henry, making sure he's kept busy until everything begins, also making sure he actually makes it to the altar," she explained, laughing slightly.

Derek smiled in response and nodded his head in thanks as she made her way into the backyard to join the rest of the guests.

"Well aren't you looking absolutely delicious tonight," Garcia's voice commented from behind him. Derek turned and reached out, pulling her into a hug.

"And you look absolutely perfect, Baby Girl," he said as he held her hand, her spinning to show of her dress.

"Hard not to when you're as hot as me," she said, winking slightly. "Now come on, the wedding's going to start in a few minutes, and then someone needs to be saying some things to someone else later."

Derek remained quiet as he allowed her to pull him to the backyard. As he looked around and saw the set-up himself, he nodded in approval. It definitely looked amazing, especially considering the amount of land that Rossi had. Stringed lights lit the area, all white with white curtains hung near the aisle, makeshift altar, dinner, and reception areas.

When the music began, Derek's eyes quickly snapped back to Rossi's house and he smiled as Will made his way down the aisle, the man looking completely nervous. Derek froze when he saw Spencer coming next, a half step behind little Henry. He was wearing a tux with a bowtie and the smile he had on his face from watching Henry was one Derek hadn't seen before, and he knew he wanted to see it again. A few minutes later, JJ entered with her mother. Her hair had been done up simply and the dress was gorgeous. Everyone grinned as she made her way up the aisle and stood across from Will, both hand in hand and in love.

The ceremony was short but wonderful. As the couple kissed, everyone clapped.

Derek let his gaze slip towards Spencer, who was holding Henry and tickling the small boy before placing him on the ground, allowing the small boy to run over to his parents, hugging them both. Then Spencer's eyes moved to him and Derek froze, unsure of what to do. They kept eye contact until Rossi toasted the couple and everyone began to make their way to the reception area. Spencer had already moved, making his way to the same table as JJ. Derek sat down next to Garcia, who gave him a knowing smile and squeezed his hand, silently trying to assure him that everything was going to be alright.

There were toasts and foods and dancing, the night was alive. He watched from the corner of the dance floor as Emily and Garcia danced with JJ. Hotch was dancing with Beth, as Rossi and Spencer stood off to the side, talking to Will.

The song ended and Derek watched as Penelope made her way over to Spencer, taking his hand and pulling him on the dance floor. He smiled when he saw the smile blush on his face as he quickly tried to tell her he doesn't dance. As the pair moved closer to him, he could hear the conversation.

"It's a good thing you're not dancing then," Garcia said, laughing slightly.

"Then what are we doing?"

"There's another pair of people who deserve to be as happy as JJ and Will tonight," she said and they stopped in front of Derek. Spencer's eyes darted from Garcia to Derek, looking confused.

"I'll take it from here," Derek said as he leaned over and kissed Garcia on the cheek.

"I'll see you two later," she said, waving to them as she made her way back to the dance floor and picking up Henry, spinning him around.

Spencer looked at them, smiling, before turning towards Derek. "Who was she talking about?" he asked, his voice cracking slightly.

"Can we talk?" Derek asked. He watched as Spencer licked his lips and swallowed slightly before nodding, obviously hesitant. "Somewhere a little more quiet?"

Another nod from Spencer and Derek led him back to the fountain in Rossi's yard, getting nervous with each passing second.

"I'm sorry for the other night," Spencer blurted out before Derek had the chance to say anything.

Derek sighed and shook his head. "Spencer, you have nothing to apologize for, it's me. I shouldn't have forced you to sleep in my bed, but I was worried about you."

"Why?"

"Just from the way you had been acting before the case and it took me that night to realize," Derek trailed off.

"Realize what?" Spencer asked, sounding nervous.

"That I was in love with you."

Spencer was obviously shocked by the admission and was staring at Derek, his hazel eyes not showing any sort of reaction.

"I know I really didn't do anything to show it. I didn't actually realize it at first. I kept having these weird moments that I couldn't explain, or I would just ignore. Then after you left, I just-"

"Derek, please shut up!"

Derek's mouth snapped closed as he looked at Spencer, who was scratching at his neck before running a hand through his hair. "I'm the only one who's allowed to ramble," he teased slightly.

"Spencer, I-"

"I love you, too," Spencer blurted out.

Derek grinned and looked at the other man. "I was really hoping you were going to say that," he said, chuckling. Then, surprisingly them both, it was Spencer who reached forward, grabbing Derek's by the shoulder of his jacket and pulling him into a kiss. Instantly responding, Derek's hands moved to Spencer's hips as Spencer wrapped his arms around Derek's neck, pulling the two closer together.

They pulled apart a few moments later, both panting, and they couldn't stop grinning. Derek kept his hands on Spencer's waist as he felt Spencer's head against his shoulder.

"I've been wanting to do that for a long time," he heard Spencer say.

"Should've done this sooner," Derek agreed as he kissed Spencer's temple. "I'm sorry it took this long."

"Doesn't matter, you're here now," Spencer said as he stood up straight and kissed Derek on the cheek. "Looks like I get to be number 20," Spencer said, laughing slightly.

"Number doesn't matter anymore, I've got you," Derek said, holding him a little tighter.

"And I've got you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we have reached the end of the story. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed and favorited this story, just thank you so much.


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